Pokémon Ranger and the Leafeons' Journey Home
by kisa-kara-chan
Summary: Kellyn has a new mission:Escort the lost Leafeons back to their home.But what if there's another ranger that has the same mission and she isn't all that she seems? Ash and the gang tag along.When she gets kidnapped, which mission will Kellyn choose? KxOC
1. The New Mission

**Okay... the inspiration for this is after I was bored and watched 'Pokemon DP: Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu parts 1 &2'. Yes.... I suppose I get bored easily when I have some free time. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to give Kellyn his spotlight. hahaha, and perhaps even a girlfriend too. maybe. **

**Please R&R and tell me what you think!  
**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Chapter One: The New Mission

"Kellyn, new mission," Operator Carrie informed.

"What is it?" the young man inquired, looking at his Vatonage Capture Styler as he stood alone in the middle of a forest, "Not to mention it's already starting to get a little dark. Anyway, what's the new mission?"

"According to the stories at the town near you, there's a group of Leafeon living nearby your current location. It seemed that the Leafeon's home was destroyed by natural causes, and with their new location they cannot migrate up to the mountains where they stay during the wintertime." She explained, "Your mission is to find the group of Leafeon and escort them up to the mountainside."

The brown-haired young man with a hairstyle that reminded people of a Buizel nodded. "I understand," he agreed," Kellyn out."

Closing his Capture Styler Comm. Device, the 11th of twelve known Top Rangers began walking in the direction of the coordinates Carrie sent him.

Suddenly he heard rustling, and turned to see a Leafeon staring at him.

_If I capture that Leafeon it could lead me to the rest of them,_ he thought, aiming his Capture Styler, but the Pokémon seemed unmoved by the action.

"Capture on!" he shouted, and the styler top circled around the Leafeon twice before returning to Kellyn, even though he tried to capture it.

Taking a step back he stared in shock at the Pokémon who continued to stand in front of him. "Capture… _failed_?" he breathed.

"Don't sound so surprised please," the Leafeon spoke unexpectedly, sighing, "Top Ranger Kellyn."

"You know me?" he breathed in surprise. _I thought speaking in a human female voice was shocking enough!_ He contemplated.

Sighing once more, the Leafeon glowed and a swirl of wind surrounded it before it cleared, revealing an attractive young girl a few inches than Kellyn with bright azure eyes and mid-back length black hair tied up into a sharp bun. She wore a similar outfit to his own, a Top Rangers uniform, with a Vatonage Capture Styler attached onto her right wrist below her fingerless gloves.

"Sorry for the shock," she apologized, "my name's Alena (Ah-lean-ah). I'm a Pokémon Ranger too, and like you, I'm also a Top Ranger."

"No offense, but you look about the same age as me," he commented, "are you sure you're a Top Ranger?"

Alena looked taken aback. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously, "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, but I was told that _I_ was the youngest Top Ranger," he elaborated, "of the twelve."

She laughed, "Oh! _That_! Well… I'm the unknown 13th Top Ranger, though now I guess I'm known. I'm the same age as you therefore, we're both the youngest. If you're wondering I checked out all the TR's profiles so that's how I know we're the same age."

Kellyn still looked a little puzzled. "How did you turn into that Leafeon?" he inquired.

"Well… let's just say I'm not like normal Pokémon Ranger. More like I'm not like normal humans." She chuckled, "After a run-in I had with a strange Porygon and after being sent through this rift and returning, I had these powers to transform into any Pokémon I want and use their powers and abilities. When I use the Pokémon's abilities too much though, I have a tendency to become extremely tired. Either that or I pass out and return to normal."

"How come I've never heard of you?" he asked.

"I don't want even more people to come after me." She answered, rubbing her left arm gently, "A girl –more or less a Top Pokémon Ranger, with the ability to transform into any desired Pokémon and use their abilities? Not to mention have nature acute sense of hearing and abilities of speed and jumping, not to brag or anything. There are a lot of Pokémon Hunters after me. Sure, I have the power of telepathy to try to get Pokémon to help me, but I don't want them to get hurt for my sake. It goes against my laws as a Pokémon Ranger."

He nodded slowly. "So… well, it's still all a little hard to take in, but since I've seen you actually transform, I completely believe you. What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a mission," she sighed tiredly, "finding the group of Leafeon living here somewhere and escorting them to the mountaintop. I just escaped capture though from a Pokémon Hunter, so excuse me if I seem tired or rather irritated.

"Not at all," he insisted, "and as a matter of fact, that's my mission too. Maybe we could work together."

Taking a shaky step forward, Alena collapsed with a moan, Kellyn running over to see the burns and bruises on the back of her knees.

"What happened to you?" he demanded, kneeling down next to her to further inspect her wounds.

Suddenly loud rumbling shook the floor before clouds quickly formed above them, rain beginning to fall instantaneously, soaking the two rangers' matching clothes. A huge robot machine stepped out from the trees, a helmeted masked man at the controls. All the two young rangers could see was that he had spiky grey hair and had a huge 'R' on his chest. All Alena knew was that he was known as the 'Iron Masked Marauder' and that he worked for Team Rocket.

"You're mine now, Ranger!" he cackled, releasing his vicious Scizor.

Kellyn looked around desperately for any wild Pokémon, but found none as they had all been scared away by the metal machinery.

"Leave me alone!" Alena shouted, standing up uneasily.

"Scizor, use X-Scissor!" the Iron Mask ordered, "Now! At the boy!"

Alena's eyes shot towards the Pokémon Ranger. "No!" she cried, jumping in front of him in a flash of brilliant light, blinding both the Iron Mask and Kellyn as Scizor's attack was executed.

When Kellyn opened blue eyes, he gasped at the majestic Suicune standing shakily in front of him, badly hurt in the side as she had shielded him with her own body from Scizor's attack.

"A-Alena," he breathed, noticing she was in great pain.

"Hmm… you can't last much longer," the Iron Mask Marauder pointed out in amusement.

The Suicune attacked with Ice Fang, sending the Scizor flying back and smacking against a metal leg of Iron Mask's machine. Alena went down on her knees, mentally telling Kellyn to get on her back. Raising herself onto all four feet she shot a powerful Bubble Beam at the machine, causing it to go up in flames. Then she sped off with great speed and agility, flying through the undergrowth of the forest.

Holding onto her mane and neck gently, he told her, "There's a path just nearby. If you take that it will lead up to a Pokémon Center. Just turn a little right."

"G-Got it," she panted, changing directions to the slight right where they ran onto the path, speeding through the soaking rain.

Without warning, her knees felt weak and broke under her and she tumbled, unintentionally sending Kellyn flying off and crashing into the muddy ground. Panting, Alena weakly rose to all fours, rushing forward and nosing Kellyn back onto her back as he stood up.

"I-I'm sorry, Kellyn," she apologized as they continued, "but I'm weakening considerably. It's a miracle I can still continue even now. I've used too much of my energy in the past half hour."

He patted her neck softly. "It's okay, don't work yourself too hard," he assured, suddenly noticing the bright lights of the Pokémon Center up ahead, "We're almost there! Just a little farther!"

As one of her back legs weakened, breaking down to her knees, she let out a loud Suicune roar, shaking the ground as pain threatened to overtake her. With desperate azure eyes, she dashed the rest of the way there as they saw four human figures run out of the building, watching them as they approached.

_Hey! It's Ash, Dawn and Brock!_ Kellyn thought as he recognized his old friends. They had gone on a spectacular adventure to save a kidnapped Riolu that could use Aura Sphere.

"Hey guys!" Dawn exclaimed, "Its Kellyn!"

"Pokémon Ranger Kellyn?!" Brock and Nurse Joy gasped.

Ash looked surprised. "And he's with a Suicune," he breathed in amazement.

"Hey Ash! Dawn! Brock!" the ranger called, waving at them.

Demounting, he ran over to them all soaked and slightly muddied, Alena following behind him.

"Where'd you find this Suicune?" Nurse Joy asked, "It seems to be badly hurt."

Closing her azure eyes, the Suicune glowed and transformed back into her true human form, surprising them before she stumbled forward and collapsed, Kellyn swooping forward and catching the girl against his chest, holding her close.

"Nurse Joy!" he said sternly, "I need you to set up a bed for her for the night. I'll need her wounds to be tended to. Knowing you usually have a steady amount of patients, I'll tend to Alena myself. If you would please bring me a medical kit that would be great."

"D-Did we just see that Suicune transform into that girl?" Brock inquired, still in a state of shock.

"And she's a ranger too!" Dawn exclaimed.

Ash looked at Kellyn. "Hey Kellyn, do you know her?" he asked.

"Somewhat," the Pokémon Ranger answered, swinging Alena up into his arms as he carried her bridal-style into the Pokémon Center, "I'll explain later."

Pokémon and trainers alike looked at the ranger as he carried Alena in. Ash's best friend Pikachu looked at them and said in an amazed voice, "Pika…?"

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**Okay... well... hope you liked the first chapter so far.**

**PLEASE REVIEW and I'll update ASAP! **


	2. Reacquaintance

**Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Two: Re-acquaintance

As Ash, Dawn and Brock followed the two rangers, several of their Pokémon followed after them as Nurse Joy showed Kellyn to a two-bed bedroom, where he placed Alena on one of the beds. A Chansey came in cheerfully with a medical box and gave it to Nurse Joy who gave it to Kellyn. Then both Chansey and Nurse Joy left, closing the door behind them as the Pokémon gathered around the room with Ash, Dawn and Brock.

"So Kellyn, who is she?" Ash queried.

"The mysterious 13th Top Ranger," he answered while opening up the medical box as he sat himself on the bedside, "I met her just not 10 minutes ago. She was running from a Pokémon Hunter when we met."

Dawn blinked, eyeing something on her belt. "I-Is that a Pokéball?" she pointed out.

"It must be her partner Pokémon." Brock guessed.

The young coordinator looked at him. "Partner Pokémon? What's that?"

"When a student from the Rangers Academy graduates and becomes an official Pokémon Ranger, they are allowed to take a partner Pokémon that stays with them and assists in missions," Brock explained, "and the Rangers are allowed to have more than one partner Pokémon as they rank up. The catch is that only one can go with a Ranger at a time, the others have to stay and wait patiently at home."

"Hey Kellyn, how come you don't have a partner Pokémon?" Ash inquired the ranger.

"Well… I haven't really found any Pokémon that wants to stick with me," he answered, "I don't want to force any Pokémon to stay with me if they don't want to. It's kinda would be unfair to them if I had to take them away from their home."

Dawn cocked her head. "So don't you get lonely sometimes during your missions?"

He shook his head. "Not really, there are a lot of wild Pokémon that I meet and they're generally nice."

"Well that's cool that you keep on getting to meet a whole bunch of new friends," Ash said optimistically.

As Kellyn began to tend to Alena's arm, rubbing some disinfectant on the cut on her forearm, and she subconsciously cried out in pain. Almost instantly the Pokéball on her belt flew off onto the floor, releasing a Dragonair, which trashed its tail as it growled protectively in front of its ranger. Ash, Brock and Dawn's Pokémon were about to attack it, but the trainer, breeder and coordinator respectively stopped them before they had the chance.

"Its okay, Dragonair!" Ash exclaimed, "We're just trying to help her!"

The protective Pokémon didn't listen, glaring at them as it stayed beside Alena, its tail thrashing towards them.

"Capture on!" Kellyn called, thinking to calm down the Dragonair by capturing it, "Vatonage!" As the styler top encircled the Pokémon, it calmed down as Kellyn's feelings of friendship flowed into it. "Capture complete."

Hesitantly Ash and the gang approached behind Kellyn as the ranger gently pat the formally distressed Pokémon. The Dragonair nosed into Alena's pocket, pulling out a bottle of crystal clear water and dropped it into Kellyn's hand.

"Huh? What's that?" Brock asked.

"Don't know," he replied, "but I assume that Dragonair wants me to give this to Alena to drink."

Dragonair touched the tip of its tail to Kellyn's forehead, sending images of a few drops of the water into Alena's mouth into his head.

"Whoa…" he breathed.

"What just happened?" Ash inquired, "Are you okay?"

"Uh… yeah," he stammered, "it's just that… Dragonair just sent me images to only give Alena a few drops of the water."

They all gasped.

"It did?!" they exclaimed.

"It seems that this Dragonair has some sort of ability that's similar to telepathy," Brock commented.

Carefully opening up the bottle, Kellyn dripped two drops of the water into Alena's mouth and it flowed down her throat. Within moments her wounds faded, no sign of harm anywhere on her body. Her azure eyes soon opened to see Kellyn's face as he was leaning over her worriedly.

"K-Kellyn?" she breathed, slowly sitting up with a hand on her forehead. She noticed Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu and all their Pokémon. "Who are you guys? Where am I?"

Her Dragonair dug its head against her, whining cheerfully in relief its ranger was alright.

"Oh… I'm sorry, boy," she cooed, stroking the Pokémon's head, "I didn't mean to worry you." She then looked at Kellyn after he released Dragonair from his styler's control, "Sorry if I worried you too," she added, "I really didn't mean to."

"You're okay," he said smiling, "that's all that matters. You're at the Pokémon Center."

Alena looked at Ash and Co. behind him curiously as she swung her legs out of bed. "And you guys are?"

"Oh, I'm Ash from Pallet Town," he introduced as Pikachu hopped on his shoulder, "and this is my buddy Pikachu."

"Pika!" Pikachu cheered, raising a tiny paw.

"I'm Dawn," the coordinator said, "nice to meet you."

Brock popped up in front of Alena, taking her hand in both of his, his voice sweet and trying to be romantic. "So you're a Pokémon Ranger, huh? It's so nice to meet someone as beautiful as you. My name is Brock, and you can capture me with your styler anytime you want. All you need to do is-"

He was abruptly cut off as his Croagunk stabbed its arm into his side, causing him to fall to the ground, surprising Alena and somewhat Kellyn as it dragged the breeder away.

"I met these guys when I was undercover trying to rescue a kidnapped Riolu. These guys, especially Ash, were a great deal of help. I couldn't have completed the mission without them," Kellyn explained.

"Well… hi, I'm Alena, and –like Kellyn, I'm a Top Ranger," she said, "but as you could see… I'm not like normal rangers. I have the power to transform into any Pokémon I want and use their powers. Since you've already seen me in action, I hope it assists you in believing me."

"So this is your Dragonair?" Dawn inquired, pulling out her Pokédex as it scanned the Pokémon.

"Dragonair, the Dragon Pokémon. Dragonair has the ability to manipulate the elements as it wishes. Dragonair is a legendary Pokémon that can make rain or snow fall at its will. It can even fly without wings." The Pokédex informed her as they watched the Dragon Pokémon nuzzle against Alena's neck lovingly.

Kellyn placed a hand on Alena's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

Her partner Pokémon growled as it glared at him.

"Easy, Dragonair," Alena reassured, gently stroking the scales on its back, "It's okay. He's not going to hurt me." Chuckling, she looked at Kellyn. "Sorry, but… he's kinda a little overprotective. He thinks a _lot_ of people are after me, _including_ the ones I reassure him that are okay."

Crooning, the Dragonair looked at its partner with sparkling dark eyes, and she blushed, realizing the true meaning in its concern.

"Pika?!" Pikachu gasped, running and hopping onto the bed, staring up at the larger Pokémon as it talked to it, "Pi- pi- pi? Pika? Pika-Pika?!"

A commotion started among the other Pokémon as only Ash, Brock, Dawn and Kellyn had no idea what they were talking about, while Alena's face grew redder and redder.

"Is something wrong?" Ash inquired, "What are they talking about?"

"U-Um…" Alena began nervously, obviously not wanting to tell them what the Pokémon were _really_ discussing. _How am I supposed to tell them that Dragonair is being overprotective of me because he's worried that Kellyn is going to fall in love with me? I only just _met_ the guy!_ She contemplated. _Hmm… best not explain it to them at all then. And about Dragonair's guess… well… we'll see what happens later during this mission. _

"N-Nothing of major importance," she half-lied.

For the time being they decided to let it pass.

"So what was that bottle of water anyway? Didn't it just heal all of your wounds?" Dawn inquired.

"Oh, this," she replied, holding up the bottle, "it's just some water with healing properties that I collected from a lake one time during at mission." Putting it away she looked at the time on her Styler. "Well… I'd say it's time we go for dinner. We can talk then." She said, looking at her Dragonair and outside, "Do you think you could stop the rain please? It's kinda giving a dreary mood at the moment."

Crooning, the Pokémon looked outside and the rain soon ceased to fall, clearing up to reveal the clear night sky.

"Thanks," she chuckled cheerfully, stroking Dragonair's scales, "let's get going. You guys go ahead."

The Pokémon piled out, Ash, Dawn and Brock following.

"You sure you're okay?" Kellyn asked, still a little concerned.

She sighed, "Don't worry about me, Kellyn. All I need is a good night's sleep, that's all. Now let's get going before the others begin to worry about us. By the way, I accept your offer to work on this mission together, however, its best if the others don't know about our mission nor join along. This is dangerous enough that I'm doing this with you. There are still various Pokémon Hunters after me, and so it hurts me enough that I'm putting a fellow Pokémon Ranger in danger." Standing up shakily, she took a careful step forward and –as seeing that she didn't stumble, walked with him and Dragonair out of the room, closing the door behind them as they went to the cafeteria inside the Pokémon Center. Dragonair and the other Pokémon ate at the table beside theirs, eating at the various Pokéblock and other tasty treats for them.

"So why were you being chased by a Pokémon Hunter?" Dawn asked Alena after they finished dinner.

"Well… with the powers that I hold, I'm 'valuable'. Various hunters want to capture me and sell me to the highest bidder and they'll probably try to harness my energy for their own evil purposes." She answered, "That's why my status as a Top Ranger had to be classified for the time being. However… many hunters and other people have discovered my existence, so I'm no longer safe. I've been on the run from this particular one for the past few days." She pulled out a photo of the masked man that had tried to capture her. "He's from an organization named Team Rocket, and he's known as the Iron Masked Marauder."

Both Brock and Ash gasped, "Hey! It's _him_!"

"What? You've seen this guy before?" she inquired.

"That's the guy that tried to capture Celebi!" Brock exclaimed.

"Iron Mask," Ash growled, "I thought he was put away though after being caught. I guess he must have escaped."

Dawn looked at them. "What?! You guys know Pokémon Rangers and now I'm hearing that you've ran into a Celebi before?!" she whined, "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, well this Iron Mask tried to turn Celebi against us and nearly destroyed the forest!" he retorted, "Now he's after you it seems."

Alena dug through her pocket as she replied, "Yeah, but it's not just that." She pulled out a short white wooden flute. "He also wants this too," she added, "if played correctly, it can call all sorts of Pokémon from anywhere. I'll show you an example sometime before Kellyn and I get going to complete our mission."

"What's your mission?" Ash asked curiously, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Alena looked at Kellyn, her eyes hard before looking back at them. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we can't tell you. I can't risk anyone else getting hurt on this mission. It's dangerous enough that I've dragged Kellyn into this by accepting his offer to work together since our mission is the same."

"But these guys have always been a big help," Kellyn tried to argue.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, standing up, "but my decision is pretty final unless you guys can give me one heck of an argument." Walking away, she left withdrawing back to her room. Dragonair whined quietly as it stared sadly after its partner before following her back to her room after saying goodbye to its new friends.

Kellyn sighed, staring after her and the following Dragonair. "Forgive her outburst," he told them, "but she doesn't want the rest of you to get hurt. If she's protesting this badly, I'm assuming this mission is far more dangerous than I'm suspecting. Our mission is to find and escort a group of Leafeon to their migrating home up on the mountaintop. Their original home was destroyed by natural causes and it doesn't seem likely that they can find their way so Alena and I have been assigned the mission to escort them home."

"A group of Leafeon?" Dawn repeated.

"Hmm… I _did_ read about the stories of a group of Leafeon living in this forest," Brock recalled.

"Yeah… our job is to help these Leafeon out or else there's a low chance that they'll be able to make it out before the winter comes blowing by," Kellyn said.

Ash suddenly looked determined. "We wanna help those Leafeon get home!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The Top Ranger laughed, "I knew you were going to say something like that. Well… its fine by me, considering how well you guys helped me out last time, but it might take a little longer to convince Alena. She's pretty determined not to let you guys come, but only because she doesn't want you guys to get hurt."

"We'll convince her eventually," Brock said, "or at least we'll try."

Now Dawn looked as determined as Ash. "But we're coming with you guys anyway!"

All three friends cheered in union, punching a fist up into the air as Kellyn could only smile at their courage.

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	3. Stranger Things Happen

**Okay.. well... here's the next chapter up!**

**Hope you like it! Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) original owner  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Three: Stranger Things Happen…

Alena sighed as she leaned against the balcony of her room, changed into a black t-shirt and red Capri shorts with her black hair put down, staring into the vast forest as Dragonair stayed vigil behind her within the room, watching her carefully. Her Top Ranger uniform had been washed and speed dried and now lay folded on the desk next to her bed, her Vatonage Capture Styler sitting beside it.

The ranger sighed again, pulling out the flute that rested in her pocket. Positioning it to her mouth, she closed her eyes and began to blow a bittersweet tune, the light sound echoing through the depths of the forest to the ears of the wild Pokémon. Her song reflected the sadness and loneliness she felt in her heart.

Her only travelling companion had ever been her loyal Dragonair, and that was only after she had saved it from a Pokémon Hunter at a mystical lake. All the missions before that, she had been alone. She had been afraid to make friends in fear that they would get hurt because of the values of her powers. The only close friends she had were a few operators like Operators Casey, Lara and Carrie. She had other friends too, but they weren't as close. She knew making too many close friends would put them in danger, as well as herself.

As she was lost in her own thoughts and the music, she didn't hear the door open as Kellyn, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu and Dawn's Piplup quietly walked in, their other Pokémon placed away in their Pokéballs. They stood behind Dragonair, who was fully aware that the trainer, coordinator, breeder and ranger were there with them.

A pale blue aura began to become more visible, outlining Alena's very form as her music wove a powerful energy around her. As the music soon came to an end, she withdrew the flute from her lips as the blue aura faded, gazing up into the half-moon and stars as she felt the mellow sadness leave her, filling her with only peace and a silent balance.

Pikachu dashed over to her, climbing up to her shoulder. "Pika?" it squeaked quietly.

"Hey Pikachu," she greeted, tickling it under its chin as she turned around, "… hey guys. How long have you been there?"

"Not long enough," Dawn answered, "that music you just played was absolutely beautiful."

"Where did you learn how to play that?" Brock inquired, "That was amazing."

She smiled, almost sadly. "Thanks, but I never learned, not really." She admitted, "I only play what I feel in my heart."

Kellyn walked over and looked at her straight in the eyes, seeing his own reflection in those azure orbs. "Why did it sound so sad then?" he asked quietly, "Is something bothering you?"

"Yeah… you could say that," she said, wondering whether to tell them.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled and there was an explosion as smoke and dust blew around through the window.

"What the-?" Brock breathed.

"Come on," Kellyn shouted to the others and they ran out, Alena not bothering to get her capture styler knowing that Kellyn had his. She set down her flute next to her styler.

When they arrived outside, they sat a giant Meowth hot-air balloon, and two people and a Pokémon were inside it.

"Team Rocket!" Ash, Dawn and Brock shouted.

"Why do I get the feeling you've all met before?" Alena commented, "And at least more than once."

"They're always trying to steal my Pikachu! Ever since I got it!" Ash hissed, "For at _least_ more than a year."

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?" Jesse announced, beginning their motto.

"It's speaking to me loud and clear!" Her partner James continued.

"On the wind."

"Past the stars."

"In your ears!" the Meowth spoke, hopping onto the edge.

_Wow… it speaks,_ both Alena and Kellyn thought, _that's something you don't see every day. A talking Meowth._

Jesse pointed up in one direction. "Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace."

James pointed in the other direction. "Dashing hope, putting fear in its place."

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet."

"When everything's worse, our work is complete."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

Meowth rose both paws to the air. "And Meowth, now that's a name!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place…" Jessie exclaimed.

"…we're Team Rocket…"

"…in your _face_!" All three of them finished.

Jessie's Pokémon Wobbuffet popped up from its Pokéball behind them and saluted, shouting, "Wobbuffet!"

Alena blinked at them, turning to Ash. "Do they do that all the time?" she inquired.

"Yep," he answered, "but at least they bother to change it once in a while."

"Hey!" James shouted, pointing at them, "Don't make fun of our motto!"

"That's it!" Jesse screamed angrily, unleashing her Seviper, "Seviper, use Poison Fang!" It appeared she had a really short temper that night.

As the snake attacked, Ash was about to tell Pikachu to use Thunderbolt when Alena stepped forward, her normally-azure orbs being a mix of silver and blue. As Seviper approached closer from the air towards her, Kellyn called out her name loudly before her hand shot out at the Seviper, and an invisible barrier crashed against the Pokémon, sending it flying back to its trainer.

"W-What was _that?!_" Meowth exclaimed, staring at the girl, "Who's the new twerp?"

"Alena's the name," she answered, "and I'm a Pokémon Ranger. If you're planning on taking Ash's Pikachu, forget about it!" As she shouted the last bit, she jerked her hand slightly, and a jet of blue lightning shot from her hand, hitting the balloon and it exploded, sending Team Rocket flying off and crashing into the forest.

"W-What was that?" Dawn breathed as Alena lowered her hand, staring up into the moon as her Dragonair slithered beside her, crooning slightly as it looked down at its magical partner.

Alena's eyes returned back to its normal aqua, closing as she swooned momentarily before falling backwards, Dragonair catching her with its long body, sitting her down against the ground as the others ran over to them.

"Hey Alena, are you alright?" Ash asked.

"What just happened?" Dawn chimed.

Brock looked towards where Team Rocket crashed. "How in the world did she do that?"

Kellyn pulled Alena against him so that her head rested on his shoulder. "Hmm… well… she looks like she's out cold," he declared, "even Dragonair looks concerned, so I assume that this is not very common. Strange."

"I wonder why it happened now," Ash thought out loud, "like… how did she even _do_ that."

"That was just amazing," Dawn added, "I've never seen anything like that before."

Kellyn shook the young girl gently, trying to see if he'd get a response. A low moan escaped her lips as she tried to open her eyes. She could feel warm breath on her cheek and strong arms around her, keeping her sitting up against them.

_Where am I_? She thought, _what happened to me?_

Fluttering open her eyes, she looked up to find herself staring into Kellyn's aqua blue eyes.

"Um… hi," she greeted uncomfortably, "where am I? Did I collapse again? Wait… what _happened_?"

After they explained what had happened, she blinked in surprise. "Okay… all I remember is that my vision was different, yet the same somehow. Then I saw a flash of blue coming from my hand after sending that Seviper back at that Jesse-person before I collapsed," she told them, still sitting against Kellyn, "but now I feel exhausted. All my limbs feel so heavy. I really just want to sleep."

"I think the same goes for me. We'll need an early morning's start to go look for that group of Leafeon and lead them up to the mountaintop." Kellyn agreed, picking Alena up in his arms.

"Got it," the three trainers returned, "good night!" Then they proceeded to run back into the Pokémon Center.

"U-Um…" Alena gasped, "I-It's okay, Kellyn, you don't have to carry me."

Laughing, he grinned meekly at her. "It's no problem, Alena. You're pretty light for me, if that's what you're worried about."

Dragonair whined gently, half-glaring at the male ranger as he began to carry her in. Sighing, Alena closed her eyes and let her head rest against his shoulder, feeling his breath on her face whenever he looked at her.

_Hmmm…_ Alena thought, _He's so gentle. Strange…_

Laying her down on the bed, Kellyn pulled the white sheets over her body. "Good night, Alena," he murmured, "good night, Dragonair."

The Pokémon crooned, laying its head on the bed next to the ranger.

"Good night, Kellyn," Alena sighed, feeling sleep tug at her consciousness, but she continued to lie awake as he left the room.

About 10 minutes later, right before she was about to fall asleep, she heard Kellyn come back in, quietly yawning tiredly as he lightly dropped something on the table before crawling into the other bed, the sheets rustling as he made himself comfortable.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxxXxXxXxXxxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXXx

Hours later, Alena woke up from her sleep, hearing the strange call of a Leafeon in her dreams. Looking out the balcony window, she had a feeling there was a Leafeon that needed help and it called to her.

Quietly, she crawled out of bed, grabbing her Vatonage Styler and her flute, placing the flute and styler in her pocket. She pulled out a dark travel cape from the closet and put it on, tying it around her neck that it created a hood. Turning back towards the window, she noticed that Dragonair was awake and staring at her with worried eyes.

Walking over to her loyal companion, she gently stroked its head.

_It's okay, don't worry about me,_ she told it telepathically, _I'll only be gone for a little while. I know there's a Leafeon out there who needs my help. I know that the Iron Masked Marauder won't be able to capture me at night. I know I'm not really in the condition to go out this late to help that Leafeon, but I've got to. It's my duty as a Top Ranger._

She hugged it. _I'll be back soon, okay? And whatever you do, don't wake up Kellyn. I don't want him to know I'm gone. He's probably going to start worrying and come after me._

Dragonair nodded in understanding. Opening the window, Alena looked back at Dragonair and the sleeping Kellyn before giving her Pokémon a brief nod before leaping off the balcony and transforming into a Leafeon, dashing into the forest.

Dragonair whined gently, staring worriedly after its ranger.

Suddenly, it turned towards the sound of rustling sheets, seeing Kellyn sitting up groggily, scratching at his dark hair.

"Huh? Dragonair, why are you up this late?" he murmured sleepily, suddenly noticing the empty bed and open window, "Where's Alena?"

The Pokémon looked at him with worried liquid eyes, whining sadly. Moving over to him, it placed the tip of its tail on his forehead, sending him the memory of what she had told it before leaving.

"What?!" he gasped, "She left?" Leaping out of bed in his shorts and black and white shirt, he grabbed his equipment and put on his gear. Ready to take off after her through the window, Dragonair stopped him by moving in front of the window, its dark eyes worried.

"It's okay. I'm going out to go help her. Don't worry, I'll bring her back safely, I promise," he reassured, "now don't tell the others that we're gone. We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?"

It nodded, moving aside so that Kellyn could take off after Alena.

* * *

**Well... a little drama there, I suppose. I'll update sometime later when I can. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Complications Arise

**Okay... here's the next chapter! Hope you all like it!**

**Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
****Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Four: Complications Arise

"Hmmm… where could she have gone?" Kellyn muttered to himself as he looked around in the poorly-lit area. Checking his styler, he could see a blinking light on the map, "Well… I'm assuming that must be Alena's capture styler, considering it wasn't back in the room and on the move."

As he ran in the direction of the blinking light, eventually he found himself in the middle of the forest.

_She _should_ be right around here somewhere,_ he thought.

All of a sudden, he was tackled to the ground on his back, an Arcanine on his chest pinning him down while growling menacingly, baring sharp white teeth. As if it suddenly realized who it was, it crawled off and transformed back into Alena.

"Sorry about that," she apologized as she helped him up, "I thought I heard someone following me. Just thought I'd see who it was. Did Dragonair wake you?"

He shook his head, brushing off loose pieces of grass. "I heard footsteps and a window opening, so I was already awake by then," he answered, "but I didn't get up until I heard Dragonair whine."

She sighed, adjusting her cape so it wrapped around her entire body from the wind. "Darn it… and I thought I was going to get away unknown too." She muttered to herself.

"Why didn't you wake me? This is as much of my mission as it is yours," he inquired curiously, placing a hand on her shoulder as he looked down at her.

"Well… we had a hard day, and I thought I'd let you take a break and let you sleep," she lied smoothly.

Kellyn grinned, somehow knowing that she was lying. "Right…" he said sarcastically, "in any case, let's go find that Leafeon and help it out. By the way, what's with that travel cape?"

"I never really had time to change into my ranger uniform because I didn't want to wake you. Plus… I kinda figured it might be a little cold out in the late night so I got this from the closet," she sighed, swooning slightly.

He grabbed her shoulders and leaned her against him. "Alena, you're in no condition to be doing this right now. You need to go back and rest. You used up too much of your energy earlier, and you need to sleep. I can take care of this, so go back and get some rest."

"I'll rest easier if I know that Leafeon is safe." She argued, moving to stand by herself, "Since we're both already out here we might as well finish this mission and save that Leafeon. It might lead us to the rest of them in the morning. The sooner we find that Leafeon, the sooner we can get back." Pulling out her flute, she began to whistle a soft tune, the blue aura sparking into existence as it surrounded her in a long wisp, circling her a few times before flying off deep into the forest. Moments later it returned, flowing into Alena before she withdrew the flute from her lips.

"We're getting closer," she informed Kellyn, "we're almost there." Wincing with a hand on her forehead, she balanced herself and looked at him. "Let's hurry," she said, transforming into a Rapidash, "so get on my back."

The ranger obeyed, mounting and holding onto her fiery red mane as she sped off through the forest.

As they approached the base of a cliff, Alena slowed to a halt, transforming back after Kellyn got off her back.

"Is the Leafeon around here?" Kellyn asked.

Alena looked up towards the higher ground then looked back down, noticing a cave. "It's in there," she informed, "but it can't quite leave. I suspect the cave is unstable and prone to collapsing anytime."

"It looks like there are a whole bunch of cracks too," he agreed.

She transformed to a Leafeon, barking to see whether the Leafeon she suspected really _was_ in the cave. Both rangers heard a bark in reply, and they saw a Leafeon begin to approach the entrance. Transforming back, Alena and Kellyn noticed that there was an injury on the back of Leafeon's legs.

"Leafeon's too far to use our Vatonage stylers, and it would be too dangerous for us if we approached the cave. It –as well as the cliff, could collapse any moment," Kellyn determined, "and that would pose a risk to both us and that Leafeon."

Suddenly, they heard a rumble from behind them, and snapped around to see the Iron Masked Marauder standing there, a large Ursaring lumbering behind him.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Alena groaned as Kellyn pushed her behind him.

"What do _you_ want?" he shouted.

Iron Mask laughed, "Pokémon Ranger Alena, of course. Now, _give her to me_!"

Kellyn looked around for any wild Pokémon, and he spotted a Houndour pawing around the grass, but before he had the chance to use his styler to capture it, he was thrown aside by Ursaring, flying to the ground as the huge bear Pokémon attacked at Alena with Fury Swipe as she held her arms up in front of her, knocking her into the cave with the Leafeon as it began to crumble and collapse, covering the entrance completely with huge rocks and boulders.

"Alena!" Kellyn shouted, running to the blocked entrance, "Alena! Alena! Can you hear me?! Alena!"

There was no response, and he had no choice but to believe her to be unconscious or worse. Turning back to the Pokémon Hunter, he glared at him.

"If you wanted to capture her, why did you attack her?" he demanded, "You could have killed her!"

The hunter smirked. "Well… it's not like she would have just come willingly. Of course I'd have to rough her up a bit until she'd agree to come. Or else I'd have to take her against her will. And of course… the likeliness of that is not very."

Kellyn growled, glancing at the Houndour who was eating some berries before aiming his capture styler. "Capture on! Vatonage!" he shouted, twisting his styler around the Houndour, "Capture complete!"

The Houndour approached him and seethed at Iron Mask, but the villain only smirked.

"So… you're a Top Ranger too, huh?" he chuckled, "You look just as young as Alena. Now, move aside."

"No," the ranger said in defile, "I won't let you near here."

"Very well, then face your demise." He responded, "Ursaring, use Slash."

"Houndour! Use Flamethrower!" Kellyn called quickly afterwards.

Houndour's powerful fire attack took down the Ursaring, and the villain growled in frustration.

"You'll pay for that, ranger," he threatened.

Kellyn smirked. "We'll see about that one. Thanks Houndour, you were a lot of help." As he released the Houndour, many other Pokémon appearing from the forest as it began to chase after Iron Mask after he returned his Ursaring to its Pokéball.

Looking at the wild forest Pokémon, he selected a Donphan and captured it quickly.

_Come on, Alena,_ he thought desperately, _you and Leafeon better be okay. _

"Donphan, use Rollout!" he ordered, and it smashed through the rocky entrance, and as he released it from his control, he saw the injured Leafeon appear from the dust and debris, barking quickly in alarm.

"Thanks for your help, Donphan." He thanked before releasing the Pokémon. Then he ran after the Leafeon as it limped back into the cave towards an unmoving figure laying sprawled on the floor.

"Oh no, Alena!" Kellyn gasped, rushing to the fallen ranger's side.

She was badly hurt. The front of her cape was tattered and torn from Ursaring's slashes. It was beyond obvious that the Pokémon's claws were sharp, as there was a pool of blood around her left arm, her right arm just marked with shallow scratches. She was out cold, and there was a possibility she could have gotten a concussion from hitting her head on the floor or wall. She was covered in dust and dirt.

As he brushed her long hair away from her face, Kellyn tore off pieces of cloth from her cloak and began to create a makeshift bandage for her arm to try to stop the bleeding.

"Come on, Alena, wake up," he chided, touching her cheek worriedly. Seeing how she didn't appear to have a concussion, as she had landed on some of her cloak which cushioned her fall, he pulled her onto his lap, her head resting on the crease of his elbow.

Leafeon whined gently beside them as it looked worriedly at the two Top Rangers.

"Alena, Alena, come on, open your eyes," Kellyn muttered as he shook her, his voice on the verge of desperation.

Slowly, her eyes half-opened, staring up into his blue ones.

"K-Kellyn?" she murmured in a slur.

Leafeon's eyes brightened as it noticed the ranger was awake, if not barely. Its leaf-like tail wagged back and forth in joy.

He sighed deeply in relief. "Alena, you're awake," he breathed, "sorry I couldn't protect you."

Weakly she shook her head. "Its alright," she whispered, "sorry I keep running off on you…. Is Leafeon okay?"

The Pokémon barked, alerting her that it was alright.

"Well, we've rescued the Leafeon, and so I guess that means we're heading back to the Pokémon Center, right?" Kellyn said optimistically.

Chuckling quietly, Alena began to sit up with his assistance, wincing as she moved her left arm before easily getting over it. "It's going to be a tough one trying to explain to Ash, Dawn and Brock in the morning about this." She commented, "Not to mention Dragonair is going to probably freak out."

"Yeah… and I told Dragonair I'd bring you back safely too… I guess its not going to like me any more than it does already," he agreed, swinging her up into his arms, "Come on Leafeon. Once we get out of this cave I'll tend to your leg."

As he carried Alena out, she attached her Vatonage Capture Styler onto her right wrist, aiming at a nearby Ponyta.

"Capture on!" she called, "Vatonage!"

As she moved her arm in small turns, the Ponyta was soon captured.

"Capture complete," she determined, looking at her holder, "Kellyn, you can put me on Ponyta. It'll take us back to the Pokémon Center. Plus… I don't think I twisted my foot too badly or anything."

Obeying, he gently sat her on the horse Pokémon's back, taking a potion out of his pocket and kneeling down to Leafeon, spraying the wound with the potion. The Pokémon winced at the sting of the potion.

"Don't worry, Leafeon. You'll be better in no time." Kellyn reassured.

As Alena whistled with her lips, the Leafeon's leaf-shaped ears perked and it leaped into her arms. "Come on, little guy. We'll take you back to the Pokémon Center and we'll find your friends and family in the morning, 'kay?" she told it quietly while scratching it behind the ears. With her injured arm she undid the string that held her ruined cloak and tucked it under her other arm which held Leafeon. Then she looked at her fellow ranger. "Kellyn? You coming?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah." He responded, a little dazed by her kindness as she tucked in the now-sleeping Leafeon into the bundled cloak, covering it with another part of it. He mounted the Ponyta behind her, his arms uneasily winding around her stomach.

"Come on, Ponyta," Alena urged kindly, "you know how to get to the Pokémon Center, right?"

The Pokémon neighed and began to head off in the direction of the center in a light and easy trot.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

On the way, Alena looked up and sighed at the sight of the many stars in the sky.

"It's so beautiful and peaceful out here," she commented, "I hope it never changes."

Kellyn smiled at her. "Well that's what we're fighting for, aren't we?" he teased.

"Mmm," she agreed quietly, leaning back against him, closing her eyes as she let her head rest against his shoulder, "sorry, but just let me rest like this for now."

He smiled, his arms tightening around her waist. "It's okay," he replied, resting his cheek on the side of his head, "then let me rest like this."

She chuckled. "Okay with me," she responded, "by the way, how did you meet Ash, Dawn and Brock? You mentioned something about rescuing a kidnapped Riolu."

Laughing himself, he told her the story of how he, Ash and the others rescued Riolu from Pokémon Hunter J. and how they had gone on a crazy adventure to save it. He also told her of how Ash had a similar aura to Riolu's and that similarity helped them successfully find and rescue Riolu.

"Wow… that's some story," Alena commented afterwards, "you guys must have had quite an adventure. But I'm glad that Riolu was able to return home."

"Me too," he agreed, "now what about you? How are your adventures?"

"Crazy, dangerous, and even _more_ dangerous," she answered, "it seems that every time I go on a mission, I'm attacked by either this Pokémon Hunter or that one. I never get a break from these guys. Even with the mission I'm on now, I can't get a break. They're all on the verge of capturing me. Not a walk in the park, I'll tell you that. Their ideas to capture me get crazier and crazier every time."

He looked at her. "Have you ever been caught?" he queried curiously.

"Yeah," she admitted, "I get caught here or there. But I usually get out of them. Sometimes with some help, others… well… I have to get out myself somehow. I admit my missions _do_ get pretty lonely, considering I get put on huge top-secret missions because of my special abilities and my status. Even with Dragonair there with me, I still can't help but feel a pang of loneliness."

He finally managed to figure it out now, putting together all the pieces of the puzzle in his head. "So was that what you were thinking about when you were playing your flute earlier on the balcony?" he guessed.

Sighing, she nodded. "Because I place others in danger if they accompany me on my missions, therefore I try to keep myself distant from them as possible. But… I guess you may be the exception at the moment."

He looked a little surprise. "Why would that be?" he inquired.

"Well… seeing as you're a Top Ranger just like me, I'm thinking you should be able to handle the dangers of being on a mission with me," she replied simply.

"Right." He agreed, "You know that Ash, Dawn, and Brock want to help too."

"I know," she sighed, "but like I said before, I can't allow them to do that. It's best if they don't even know what our mission is so there's no way they can follow us."

He tensed. "Urk!" he choked.

She twisted around to glare at him through narrowed azure eyes. "You _told_ them… didn't you." She accused.

Looking away, he admitted, "Yeah… and I've already agreed for them to help… if that's okay with you…"

A low growl escaped her throat, "I can't believe it… you _already told them_?! When was this?!"

"Mmm… right about the time after you left from the cafeteria," he retorted, giving her an innocent smile.

Rolling her eyes as she turned back around, she sighed heavily. "I expect they're more than ecstatic to help these Leafeon out?" she guessed again.

"You know it," he replied cheerfully, "I hope that's not a problem for you."

"Maybe I'll do this mission myself…" she muttered to herself under her breath, "at least I wouldn't be dragging all of _these_ guys into it."

"Hey, I heard that," Kellyn informed sharply, "don't think you're going to be doing this mission all on your own. You know I'll be able to find you no matter where you go."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay… that's kinda creepy… like a stalker-kind-of-creepy."

"Sorry," he replied, smiling, "but you know we're all here to help you right?"

"I know," she said with a smile, "and I really _do_ appreciate it. By the way, thanks for saving me earlier. After all, _you _were the one that rescued be from the cave. So I just wanted to say thanks."

"You're welcome." He told her, looking down over her shoulder at the sleeping Leafeon she held in her arms, "So it was this little guy that called to you in your dreams?"

Alena smiled down at the Pokémon, her eyes warm and kind. "Yeah," she murmured, "it looks so adorable when its sleeping." She sighed tiredly as she leaned back against Kellyn. "Ugh… I hope we get back soon… I'm exhausted, not to mention I have to get this wound tended to. I'll probably need _both_ my arms tomorrow."

He looked at her with hopeful eyes. "And Ash and the others and I will be here to help you. We all know that you're exhausted, especially me. If you're tired and need a break or anything, just let me know and I'll do my best to assist you."

Closing her eyes, she sighed, "I know, and I really appreciate it. So thanks Kellyn."

* * *

**That's it for now. Yay! Fluff!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. An Old Friend

**Well... not much to say. I'm sick right now, with the sniffles and stuffy nose and everything and that sucks. **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you all like it! **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Five: An Old Friend

Kellyn stirred awake, glancing over at the sleeping Alena and the Leafeon next to her. They had come back pretty late, and after he helped to bandage Alena's wound, they had both gone back to bed. Dragonair had been pretty worried and concerned, as well as slightly angry at him for not taking good care of its ranger like he had promised. Now it seemed peaceful as it laid its head sleeping next to them.

Sitting up while yawning quietly, he looked out the window, and it seemed the sun had rose and was already halfway up to the sky.

_Wow… and to think we just found that Leafeon and went through all that danger just last night,_ he thought, stepping onto the floor as he got up.

Alena jolted awake, her eyes snapping open as her body tensed. She unintentionally woke up both Leafeon and Dragonair, and both Pokémon looked at her worriedly.

Chuckling uneasily, she looked at them and patted them on their heads.

"Sorry, I just had a bad dream was all, I'm fine," she reassured, "good morning you two. I hope you've had a good night's sleep."

Dragonair nuzzled against her cheek as Leafeon hopped onto her lap, brushing against her hand.

"Good morning," Kellyn greeted warmly.

Looking over at the ranger, she smiled, greeting back, "Good morning, Kellyn. How are you doing this fine and sunny morning?"

"Just fine," he answered, "with half-a-night's sleep and a rescued Leafeon with the cost of an injured ranger."

She blinked at him. "Were you being sarcastic or for real?" she implored

Chuckling, he answered, "Sarcastic at the 'half-a-night's-sleep' thing. I'm just glad that your injuries were minor."

"Me too," she agreed, looking at the white bandages on her arm, "not to mention I'm glad this won't scar."

He walked over and gently touched her wounded arm, running his fingers lightly over the soft bandages. "Does it hurt?"

She shook her head, giving him a big smile. "Not at all," she replied, "it's healed up well so far, and I can thank Dragonair for that one. Leafeon I believe helped too with the pain, as did you."

"M-Me?" he stammered in confusion.

"Yeah," she scoffed in humour," _you_ applied that medicine that helped stop the pain in the first place. So like I said last night, thanks."

"You ready to go soon?" he asked, "I told Ash and the others last night to meet us at the front desk."

Getting up, she grabbed her ranger gear and smiled at him. "Just give me 5 to 10 minutes. I just need to get changed and also change my bandages. Then I'll be ready to go, so I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," he replied, "don't take too long."

Dragonair and Leafeon followed her out and all three of them came back 6 minutes later, Alena changed into her Top Rangers uniform and her white bandages brand new and tied into a nice small knot near the top of her arm. Dragonair and Leafeon were not with her. Slipping the flute and styler into her pocket, she tied her hair up into a high ponytail, and then quickly turned to grab a green trench coat that Kellyn tossed at her.

"What's this?" she asked with curiosity.

"Well… if we should run into any Pokémon Hunters that are _not_ after you but after the Leafeon, then it would be helpful if they not necessarily know that we're Pokémon Rangers, more or less Top Rangers," he explained, attaching his Vatonage Capture Styler onto his wrist.

She shrugged. "That's understandable. Thanks," she replied.

"By the way," he began as she put on the trench coat, "you look… different."

Buttoning up the last few buttons, she stared at him, blinking. "Really? How? Is it because of the bandages? I guess you can't really see them now that I'm wearing this trench coat."

He shook his head, walking over to her and stroking her cheek with the back of his fingertips. "You look a bit more… radiant," he complimented, "beautiful, I daresay."

Her cheeks reddened. "T-Thanks," she stammered, looking up into his blue eyes as they slowly leaned closer, seemingly about to kiss.

Suddenly, Alena stopped and pulled back, realizing what she was just about to do as Dragonair entered her mind with a whine. She chuckled, "According to Dragonair, Ash, Dawn and Brock are ready to go."

Kellyn flushed a bright pink himself as he was suddenly aware of the fact that their faces were getting closer and closer. "O-Okay," he stammered.

_I feel kinda weird,_ he thought, _I can hear my heart pounding like crazy. I-Is it suddenly hot in here or just me? W-Why do I feel this way all of a sudden… ever since last night as we were coming back with Leafeon? D-Do I have a crush on her or something? I just feel… attracted to her._ _She's so beautiful, even when she's angry at me._

Smiling, she reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing his blush to deepen. "Come on," she said, "let's get going. The others are waiting for us. I'm sure Leafeon will be anxious to return to its friends."

They both double-checked the room to make sure they didn't forget anything before leaving the room, heading out to meet with the trainers.

"Good morning," Alena and Kellyn greeted in union.

"Good morning," they replied in sync.

Dragonair nudged against Alena's cheek before tapping at the Pokéball as it pulled at her trench coat, returning to its Pokéball.

"Hey, where did you find this Leafeon?" Dawn inquired curiously.

Ash's eyes lit up. "Maybe it'll lead us to the others."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Brock agreed.

Kellyn exchanged a glance with Alena after she re-buttoned her thinly layered coat. "Well…" he began, "this Leafeon called to Alena in her sleep and she left to go find and help it. I woke up and was suddenly aware of the situation that Alena was gone and Dragonair was staring off outside the open window. Then I went after her in which we teamed up to go find the Leafeon."

Alena pulled up her left sleeve, revealing the white bandages on her arm. As the group saw it, they gasped.

"What happened to you?" Ash demanded.

"When we found the Leafeon inside an unstable cave, we were attacked by Iron Mask," she answered. "I was injured by him before being thrown inside the cave where it collapsed. I soon fell unconscious. I know that Kellyn managed to stop him and chase him off before he came and rescued me."

Kellyn smiled. "I was worried after the cave entrance collapsed, and so I captured a Donphan to break the boulders blocking the cave, and a Houndour to stop the Pokémon Hunter. Actually the rest of the forest Pokémon chased him off so I could help Alena and Leafeon. Then Alena captured a Ponyta to get us back here."

Dawn said in a dreamy voice, "That sounds like such a romantic adventure."

Blood rushed to Kellyn's cheeks as Alena laughed and he laughed along.

"I guess you could say that," Alena agreed. "Nothing really happened between us. We're just friends, obviously. We only met yesterday, remember? There's not much chance that we'd fall in love just knowing each other over a day."

"But there are sometimes events that cause people, and Pokémon, to be attracted to others," Brock reasoned, suddenly appearing in front of her, holding her hand, "just like I am to you. You're so beautiful, and I-"

His Croagunk immediately took care of him, taking him down just with one swift jab to the side.

"Ah-ha…" she trailed off, "thanks Brock." She looked back at Ash and Dawn. "Anyway, I apologize for what happened last night, aka my reluctance to allow you guys to go with Kellyn and me. In any case, after a little convincing from Kellyn," she glanced at the ranger next to her, and he gave her a cheeky smile, "I've decided to allow you guys to come. On the condition that you _please_ do what we say and try not to get separated. I know that the Iron Masked Marauder is still after me, therefore, I can't risk putting you guys in danger too. He'll try _anything_ to capture me, _including_ threatening you. And that is something I _cannot_ allow."

"Right," they agreed.

"Then let's go," Kellyn announced, kneeling down to look at the Leafeon standing by Alena, "are you ready to go find your friends?"

It barked, brushing itself against her leg affectionately.

"It seems this Leafeon really likes you," Dawn commented.

Alena laughed, kneeling down and stroking its back. "Yeah. It's really cute. Now… let's get going. The weather's nice, the sun is out, it's a perfect day to start our search and escort mission," she announced, standing up and looking at Kellyn. "Did you already inform headquarters?"

He nodded. "Apparently our Operator Carrie knows you," he replied suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, yes, Carrie," she repeated, "I'll admit she's not the sharpest, as she was and is oblivious to the fact that Ricky-boy has a crush on her. But… she's an outstanding operator. Anything else I need to know?"

"Yeah, another mission I have now is protecting you from Pokémon Hunters, including the Iron Masked Marauder and supposedly Pokémon Hunter J. It seems she's also on the chase for you too, at least… that's what headquarters and Solana are saying," he explained.

"Oh dear…" she sighed, "Well… I guess I'll have to cope. I'll give you my pre-thanks for watching my back when it happens. Anyway, thanks for informing headquarters. I guess that means we'll be on our way now."

"Let's go!" Ash and Dawn cheered.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

For about an hour and a half they began their expedition through the forest, when they suddenly heard a rustling noise, and soon they found themselves face to face with Ash's old rival, Gary Oak. His Umbreon was trailing along beside him, and he was holding a clipboard.

"Hey Gary," Ash, Dawn and Brock chimed together, Pikachu and Piplup exclaiming after them.

"Hey you guys," the Pokémon Researcher replied, "its been a while, hasn't it?" Then he noticed Alena. "Hey Alena, it's good to see you again."

She blinked in surprise. "Wow, Gary. Is that really you? You've… well… you look… different," she responded.

Ash gasped, "You _know_ each other?!"

"Yeah," Alena answered, "I met him originally after he lost to the Elite Four back in the Kanto region."

"Yeah," Gary smirked, "and she was a big-shot ranger back then already too. So how've you been doing? Made it to the top yet?"

She laughed. "Yep… the mysterious 13th Top Ranger," she told him, glancing over at Kellyn.

"Uh, hi," the ranger greeted in a stammer, "I'm Kellyn, also a Top Ranger like Alena. I was formally the youngest of the 12, well, now 13, but things seemed to have change."

"Hi," Gary greeted, "I'm Gary Oak, grandson of the great Professor Oak and studying to be a great Pokémon Researcher, which would explain why I'm here. I'm looking for forest Pokémon and researching their migrating habits, considering winter will be around the corner soon."

As he spoke, Leafeon padded over to Umbreon shyly, and greeted it with a small whine. Umbreon cocked its head before responding back.

"Is this your partner Pokémon?" the researcher inquired Alena.

She shook her head. "My partner Pokémon is in its Pokéball currently. It's a Dragonair, and the greatest travelling companion ever."

He raised an eyebrow. "A Dragonair, eh? Pretty impressive. But then again, I'm not surprised. Not with _your_ condition. So how have you been?"

Shrugging easily, she replied, "Not bad, I suppose. With the exception of being constantly hunted by Pokémon Hunters, my missions have been running pretty smoothly. Looking at the time, I guess we can stop for breakfast."

"I can whip up something delicious in a flash," Brock suggested, "just give me a little time."

"I'll help you out," Alena offered and they went to a clearing where Brock and Alena got prepared for breakfast.

As they prepared, they talked. It seemed that Alena knew Gary really well, and Dawn decided to question it.

"Wow," she said, "you seem to know a lot about Gary, Alena."

Both of them laughed. "Of course!" Alena exclaimed.

"After we met, I found out that Alena was going to be there for a few weeks. Well… she was cute back then too, so I asked her out on a date. After that, we dated for about a month and a half," Gary answered.

"WHAT?! YOU DID?!" Brock, Ash and Dawn practically screamed.

"Pika?" Pikachu gasped as Piplup went, "Pip?!"

Only Kellyn was stunned into silence as he felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach, jealousy enveloping him.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised that he asked me out, and I accepted. I really saw some potential in him, and when he openly admitted that he wanted to change his outlook on Pokémon Training, I told him that _just_ by admitting that he wanted to change, he had already began his transformation," Alena explained. "I really admired that in him, and so our relationship started from there."

"She didn't have any big urgent missions after and so I took her back with me to Pallet Town, where she met my grandfather," Gary continued. "I think she met Ash's mom too. Isn't that right?"

"Hmm… Delia Ketchum, wasn't it?" she pondered.

"Hey! That's my mom's name!" Ash exclaimed, "So you met my mom Alena?!"

She nodded. "A very kind woman indeed," she said. "Anyway, after a while, Gary and I broke up, because he told me that he discovered his feelings toward me were more of a sibling love. In all honesty, it was fine with me. I knew getting myself caught in a romantic relationship would endanger both him and myself. I really liked Gary more as an older brother-figure better than a boyfriend, no offense to you."

The former Pokémon Trainer shook his head. "None taken," he replied with a chuckle. "So… ending our relationship with one last kiss, we broke up. I've got to say though, our timing with the break-up was pretty good, considering I decided to leave to continue my Pokémon training. Alena actually received a message that she was going off for another mission later that night."

"Awww…" Dawn sighed, "That's such a romantic story, with a happy-sad ending. But I guess nobody was hurt by the break-up. But still… that's so sweet! If you guys had stayed together, then it would be like a love story right out of a fairytale!"

"Then that story of yours would take a turn for the worse. Remember wherever I am, Pokémon Hunters aren't too far behind me," Alena warned, looking at Kellyn. "And I think Kellyn knows that especially well, considering he was there with me when I was attacked twice by the Iron Masked Marauder."

He nodded gravely, staring at her with worried blue eyes. Giving him a smile, she walked over to Gary, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he embraced her in a hug.

Chuckling he pulled back and looked at her. "I missed you too. I'm glad that you've been doing well."

"I'm glad you've been well too," she replied in a quiet voice. Pulling back, she smiled at him. "Oh, and if you want I can help you out with attracting some forest Pokémon here," she offered as she pulled out her flute.

"Ah! The flute!" Ash noted as they watched her swiftly climb up a tree and sit on a thick tree branch, her legs facing sideways as she sat side-saddle on the branch, the wind blowing the green trench coat around her legs.

Closing her eyes, she placed the flute against her lips and began to weave a beautiful, enchanting tune that echoed throughout the forest. After a few moments of listening to her music, they heard the sound of rustling leaves as various forest Pokémon flew and crawled from the trees and undergrowth, approaching Alena to listen to her music.

"It sounds beautiful," Dawn sighed, "I wish I could play an instrument like that."

"I'm not surprised that all the Pokémon like her music too," Brock agreed. "It's absolutely wonderful. Her flute and music could compare with her Vatonage Styler. She captures Pokémon with both, not to mention humans too with her music."

Several Butterfree danced around her, squeaking softly as they sang along to her music as other Pokémon continued to approach her.

"That was beautiful," Kellyn commented as she finished, leaping down to the ground with the flute in her pocket.

"Thank you," she commented as a Butterfree landed on her outstretched hand before flapping off again to go visit Dawn, Brock and Ash.

"I agree," Gary told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You've become a great Pokémon Ranger."

Suddenly, Leafeon began to run towards a bush, barking in crazy happiness. As the group turned to look, they saw a group of at least a dozen Leafeon pop from behind the bush where it touched noses with the group's Leafeon and such, greeting them.

"Awww… I guess the music must have drawn them over to us," Dawn guessed.

They all smiled at the happy Pokémon.

"But at least Leafeon is back with its family and friends," Brock agreed.

All of a sudden, a metal claw snagged out from out of nowhere and ensnared Alena, purple electricity shooting through and around her body as she screamed in pain.

"Alena!" Ash, Gary, Dawn, Brock and Kellyn shouted as she went limp in the grasp of the claw before it snatched her from them.

The ground shook as the rest of the metal machine stepped out from behind the trees, sending the wild forest Pokémon scattering in fear. From one of the claws dangled Alena, her eyes barely fluttering open as she barely awoken.

"Let _go_ of me!" she screamed as she squirmed, glaring at Iron Mask who sat at the controls.

"Who the heck are you?!" Gary shouted, "And why did you capture Alena?!"

"This little ranger is the key I need to untold riches," he cackled, pressing a button and the painful purple electricity shot through her body once more, making her cry out again before slipping limp. "The reason the electricity is purple is because it has a poisonous substance within. Even _if_ you were to save her, she'll die from the poison. Only _I_ hold the antidote."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, but Ash stopped it. "Wait, Pikachu. We can't risk hurting Alena."

"But we've got to do _something_," Dawn protested.

"Hey… it's _you_ two kids!" Iron Mask exclaimed, recognizing Brock and Ash. "What the heck are you punks doing _here_?!"

Kellyn looked around and saw a Staraptor, throwing off his trench coat. "Capture on! Vatonage!" he shouted as he captured the flying Pokémon, "Capture complete! Now, Staraptor, use Aerial Ace!"

"Star!" it crooned loudly, diving down to hit against Iron Mask's machine with a powerful Aerial Ace, tilting it nearer to the ground.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered, and the tiny mouse Pokémon leaped up, knocking the machine down to the ground with a sharp smack of its glowing tail.

The claw restraining Alena loosened, and she collapsed to the floor, her eyes opening as she sat up weakly before being grabbed by the ponytail by Iron Mask., getting yanked up to her feet.

"Let go of her!" Gary shouted. "What did she ever do to you?!"

"Nothing, of course," the Pokémon Hunter replied. "Once I capture her and give her to the boss, I'll be rich! Now, go, Ursaring! Use Hyper Beam!"

As the vicious Pokémon was released, it unleashed an amazingly strong Hyper Beam. All of the Leafeon leaped in front of Ash and the others, using Leaf Blade to cut through the powerful Hyper Beam., removing the threat.

"How _dare_ you try to attack my friends!" Alena shouted angrily. She knew that if the Leafeon hadn't saved them, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Kellyn, Gary, as well as Piplup, Pikachu and perhaps Staraptor would have been hurt for sure.

"Yeah, what are _you_ going to do about it?" he challenged, holding onto her hair tighter.

Alena's eyes glowed aqua-ocean blue, and she elbowed him in the stomach hard and he released her. She threw off the green coat and her friends were stunned into silence as a flaring blue aura surrounded her, a pair of Butterfree wings sprouting from her back as she lifted into the air. The elastic slipped from her hair and it floated around her in a waves.

"Argh!" the hunter growled, "Ursaring, Hyper Beam, once more!"

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered as Dawn chimed, "Piplup, use Whirlpool!"

Gary told his Pokémon, "Umbreon, use Shadow Ball!"

As the attacks met mid-air, a huge explosion resulted and the place was covered in smoke and dust.

"Staraptor!" Kellyn called as he and the others coughed briefly, "Use Whirlwind!"

The bird Pokémon blew away the terrible dust that clouded their vision. Alena hovered, unfazed, near them, her eyes remaining to be aqua-ocean blue.

"Who _are_ you?!" Iron Mask shouted in glee as they watched her summon up an Aura Sphere, "Your powers will do _wonders_ for us!"

"My name is Alena Westwood, a Top Pokémon Ranger, and my duty is to protect Pokémon and humans alike anywhere, in any way that I can," she declared in a low voice. "If you _dare_ threaten that balance of peace and harmony, I _will_ stop you."

"We'll see," he challenged, "Ursaring, use Shadow Claw!" But he knew a terrible secret that would be revealed with her constant use of Aura Sphere.

As the Shadow Claw and Aura Sphere met, Ursaring was thrown back against a tree, knocking the Pokémon out.

"This is my half-form, in which I can incorporate the power of any Pokémon within myself," Alena stated, preparing another Aura Sphere. She looked a little feverish, as it seemed the poison was already working its quick effects.

She released the powerful ball, and it intentionally flew behind Iron Mask, hitting against something else, and soon, Pokémon Hunter J and her minions drove out from behind the trees on both sides, Hunter J standing upon one of the vehicles. Almost instantaneously Iron Mask was knocked out by one of her henchman's Crobats.

"It's Hunter J," Dawn said.

"What does _she_ want?" Ash growled under his breath.

Kellyn and Gary both glanced up at Alena. "Who else?" they muttered in unity.

"You're surrounded," the Pokémon hunter smirked in pride. "Give up now, Pokémon Ranger Alena Westwood."

The Top Ranger instead summoned another Aura Sphere as Hunter J's henchman surrounded them all. Glancing around, she knew there was no way she could get Ash and the others away safely without someone getting hurt.

"Give up, Alena, and we'll let your friends go safely," Hunter J offered, looking towards the forest, where one of the vehicles drove out with two strange-looking identical-except for colour machines, where it made a round empty dark purple orb touching just above the ground. The blue and red machines beeped, alerting them that it was operating. "Come with me, and I will ensure your friends' safety. I may have had previous… quarrels, with them, however, they are not my problem right now. But maybe they might be the solution to my problem."

_She means to trade our safety for hers,_ Kellyn thought grimly, _but I can't let that happen. I promised myself that I wouldn't let her get captured by _any_ Pokémon Hunter. Especially not J. _

"Alena, don't do it!" Gary called to her, Pikachu and Piplup chiming their agreement. "We can handle them!" _I think…_ he added silently.

Closing her eyes, she lowered herself to the ground, allowing her wings to shrink before winking out of existence, her eyes returning to azure blue. Her hands were calmly at her sides.

"Alena, you can't give yourself up to her," Ash called.

She looked back at them with a small, feverish smile, her raven-black hair reflecting the sunlight. "Kellyn, I entrust you to finish the original mission for the both of us, as I cannot. Take those Leafeon home. I'm glad I was able to meet you. Ash, Dawn, Brock, I know you'll be a great help to him. And Gary… it was good to see you again. This may be goodbye… but I know I'll see you guys again… someday."

Then she took out her Dragonair's Pokéball, throwing the Pokéball into the air, where the Dragonair appeared near Ash and the others. What it didn't know was that Alena had completely released it from its Pokéball. It was free.

"Goodbye, Dragonair," she swallowed sadly. "Thanks for being a great companion for the past few years. Now you're free to roam where you may."

Crooning, Dragonair went over to her and nuzzled against her neck gently, and she hugged it tightly before it went back to the others. It was completely aware now of the situation, and what its now-former partner was about to do. It was strongly against what she was doing, but it knew she didn't want to endanger the others.

"No! Alena! You can't!" Kellyn cried after her as she began to walk towards the purple orb, "You can't just leave!"

"Yes you can, Alena," J argued with a smirk on her face. "Top Ranger Kellyn can do this all by himself. He doesn't _need_ your help. He has all the help he needs."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she walked into the orb and turned around. Her wrists and feet were suddenly trapped in purple electric manacles, and her body dangled in the shape of a 'Y'. Electricity coursed through her body, causing her pain as to not be able to focus her abilities. Crying out in pain, she weakly struggled against the manacles before falling limp, knocked unconscious from the overwhelming pain.

"Alena!" Kellyn shouted in concern.

Pokémon Hunter J looked at the Top Ranger. "Kellyn, why do you seem so concerned over her? She's only another ranger. Is she special to you?" she inquired in amusement.

He found that he couldn't bring himself to answer that question. Dragonair thrashed its tail impatiently as it watched its ranger suffer.

_I love her,_ he realized. _I honestly think I'm in love with her… There's no other explanation why I'm feeling this way otherwise…_

"Just give her back!" Ash retorted.

"Well… I have what I want, so I'll be taking my leave now. To reassure her as so she won't struggle, I suppose that I'll stay on my word and let you go, considering I have Alena now," Hunter J sighed in content, turning to her henchmen. "Let's go."

Ash and the others stood paralyzed as Pokémon Hunter J and her men left, taking the unconscious Top Ranger away with them.

"We have to save her," Ash breathed.

"Ash is right," Brock agreed. "We all heard what the Iron Mask said. He said that Alena had been poisoned, and only _he_ has the antidote. If we can't get that antidote to her soon, she's going to die soon, even if it's not by Hunter J's hand. "

"Speaking of," Gary began, looking in the direction of where Iron Mask was thrown, he found that the hunter was gone.

"Darn it, now we can't get the antidote," Dawn realized grimly.

"But we have a better chance of saving her if we _have_ her," Gary retorted.

Kellyn's hands tightened into fists. "I promised myself I wouldn't let her get captured," he whispered to himself. "That was my mission; to protect her. I can escort royal Pokémon and such to other kingdoms and or back to their own while facing untold dangers, but I can't even defend a Pokémon Ranger from a hunter after her."

Gary placed a hand on the ranger's shoulder. "We'll get her back, Kellyn," he swore, looking at him with suspecting dark eyes. "Kellyn," he began in a serious voice, "are… you in love with Alena?"

Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the researcher. "Yes, I think I am," he admitted. "I feel that I care for her deeply in my heart, though I wasn't quite sure whether I was in love with her or not. At least… not until now; not until I lost her."

Dragonair let out a sorrowful wail at the fresh loss of its beloved partner and best friend. Tears fell from grief-stricken dark liquid eyes.

Ash, Brock and Dawn were stunned by his confession of unrequited love. If Alena were to die, Kellyn would be heartbroken. His love for her would be unrequited… forever.

_And we're not going to let that happen,_ Ash thought in determination. _We're going to save her. We have to; for Kellyn, and for Dragonair._

* * *

**Well... it seems that Kellyn crushes easily. lol. Probably because he's been around Kate too much (who can be a real tomboy sometimes, lol). And it's nice to see Gary back in the picture. lol. Amazing he and Alena actually dated before. **

**Do you think his love for Alena will remain unrequited forever? Or will they save her in time?**

**Well, I'll update soon (considering I have a 5-day weekend starting after tomorrow! Whoot! yay!!!!!!!!!!!)**

**Anyway, I hope you readers have liked this story so far, and that I'm not rushing things.**

**Please R&R!**


	6. Plan of Rescue

**Well... here's the next chapter! I hope you like it! **

**Things are starting to get a little dramatic! lol.**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
****Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Six: Plan of Rescue

"They'll probably take her in Hunter J's ship," Gary guessed as he sent Umbreon back into its Pokéball. "Let's follow them."

"He's right," Brock agreed. "We'll have more chance of rescuing Alena if we can sneak onto her ship."

Dawn looked worried. "I hope she's alright."

"We'll save her," Kellyn said determinedly. "We have to."

Leafeon barked to its friends, and they left as it stayed with the group.

"I guess they'll come back when they're called," Ash guessed. "Now, let's go."

Instantly they all ran into the forest, hoping to catch up with the enemy and their kidnapped friend.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Mmm… where am I?_ Alena thought as she stirred awake.

Glancing around, she found herself in the purple orb inside a huge metal room.

"So… you're finally awake," a voice noted, and she looked to see Pokémon Hunter J walking from the shadows towards her, a Scyther stalking behind her.

"What… do you want with me?" Alena mumbled quietly as she was weakened greatly from the poison. "Where am I?"

"You're on my ship," the hunter answered. "My client has requested that I bring you to him. He's paying me handsomely, not to mention I get exceptional tips for how quickly I deliver you, luckily for me, he is not taking any money away from my sum for the condition you arrive with, as long as you're not on the brink of death."

Using her abilities, Alena managed to dispel the manacles and throw an Aura Sphere at her captor, and both she and Scyther leaped out of the way, and there was a small explosion of smoke before Alena was once more restrained, hanging in her portable cage limply.

_This poison is really draining all of my energy,_ Alena thought, _I feel so exhausted. I guess it won't be too long now until I die. I'm just sorry that I couldn't help bring the Leafeon home… I couldn't complete my very last mission. Hmmm… I know Kellyn will be able to do what I will fail to do._

"Still feisty, eh?" J challenged. "Scyther?"

The Pokémon attacked her, making a slash on each arm and one across her stomach, causing her to shout out in pain from the new wounds. Blood trailed from her wounds, and began to drip onto the metal floor, staining the shiny ground. She glared at her captor with hateful azure eyes.

"You're quite the strong one," Hunter J commented. "But you'll break soon." Walking over to one of the machine's controls that was holding her, she turned up the dial that controlled the intensity of the electricity after punching in the password to access the machine.

Alena screamed in pain before gritting her teeth, on the brink of insanity from the pain. Not before long, her entire body fell limp as if unconscious. The only thing that prevented her from collapsing to the floor were the manacles on her wrists and ankles.

"Excellent," the Pokémon hunter said with an evil smile on her face. Turning to her Scyther, she said, "Let's go. We're taking off."

_There's not long now…_ Alena thought grimly, hanging her head in defeat as she felt the room shake before hearing the whizzing of engines and feeling the place take off into the air after Hunter J and her Pokémon left. _I'm so sorry Leafeon._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Okay, we're in," Gary informed as they had successfully snuck on board Pokémon Hunter J's airship without being noticed or seen.

"Where do you think Alena is being kept?" Ash inquired, "The last time I was here, there was a whole bunch of rooms here."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed.

"Pip?" Piplup chirped curiously.

Dragonair whined gently, closing its dark liquid eyes and sending them its thoughts. Almost instantly they knew, Dragonair had been tied to Alena in a way that no lack of Pokéball could break. They were connected, both in mind and spirit. Dragonair could see into Alena's thoughts and pass it on to others, as she could see into its.

"So she's being held in a large room that's covered in metal sheets?" Dawn asked, "Wow… that's crazy. How did that even happen?"

"Alena and Dragonair have a deep bond," Brock guessed. "And because of it, they can see each other's thoughts and feelings. Plus, since Dragonair has the strange ability to pass on its own thoughts to others, I guess that means it can pass on its thoughts to us too."

"Now let's go find her," Kellyn said in a low, determined voice as they quietly stalked through the hallways.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps.

"Someone's coming!" Dawn hissed.

"Pika!" Pikachu pointed up at where Dragonair's tail disappeared through.

"An air vent," Gary pointed out, "brilliant. Hurry!"

With help, they quickly disappeared up the air vent, trying not to make a lot of noise. Dragonair was already slithering through the vent, searching for the room of where its dear friend was being held.

"Let's follow it," Ash said, "it probably can sense where she is."

"Man, this vent is cramped." Dawn commented.

Brock looked at her. "What do you expect? It's an air vent," he retorted.

"Pika?" Pikachu squeaked, looking at its trainer.

He smiled back at it. "Don't worry, Pikachu. We're fine."

"Piplup, pip!" Piplup chirped in reply.

Quietly crawling through the vents after the Pokémon, Dragonair suddenly stopped while peering down through one of the vents. Whining gently to the others, it flicked its tail to open up the vent before flying down and landing on the metal floor, the others following after it.

They all gasped at what they saw in front of them. Alena's limp, bleeding body hanging within the purple orb created by the two machines that still stood beside her. Scarlet red continued to drip from her body onto the growing red pool already forming there under her.

"Alena!" Kellyn exclaimed, taking a step forward before a huge metal cage slammed down around them from above.

"It's a trap!" Dawn shouted, pointing out the obvious.

Hearing a single person clapping, they turned to see Hunter J step from the shadows, a smirk on her face.

"I knew you'd come," she cackled. "I'm surprised Kellyn. Isn't your mission to escort that group of Leafeon home? Why are you here when you should be on your way?"

"We're here for Alena," he replied, "now let her go!"

"I'm getting well-paid for this capture, so forget about it," J retorted sharply.

Furiously, Dragonair used Dragon Rage, breaking through the iron bars where the attack continued to hit one of the machines that kept Alena afloat within her jail bubble. The attack seemed to do no damage to the machine, but Ash and the others ran out of their prison to face J. Kellyn and Gary ran to Alena's portable cage, trying to slam against the visible yet invisible force field.

"Alena! Alena!" both of them shouted as they rammed against the force field.

"This won't work," Gary said, taking out a Pokéball. "Go, Umbreon! Use Shadow Ball on one of the machines!"

As the dark-type Pokémon appeared, it launched the dark ball against one of the machines, and it reacted, the originally red machine glowing white hot and intense waves of electricity shot through Alena's body, and she was jolted, literally, awake, screaming in pain. They could see the powerful golden electricity as they shot through her.

"No!" Hunter J hissed in anger.

Alena!" Kellyn cried, but her screams of pain echoed through the room, drowning out the cries of her name.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered immediately.

"Umbreon! Shadow Ball, once more!" Gary continued.

"Piplup, use Bubble Beam!" Dawn ordered as Dragonair launched a violent Dragon Rage.

As all four attacks impacted against the malfunctioning machine, it exploded, the orb and manacles disappearing, and Alena's exhausted, bleeding body dropping to the floor with a lifeless thud.

Immediately both Kellyn and Gary approached Alena, Kellyn pulling the wounded ranger tenderly into his arms as Gary checked her pulse.

"Alena! Alena! Wake up!" the Top Ranger begged desperately.

The young woman didn't stir and Kellyn looked at Gary with desperation in his eyes, hoping for some good news.

"Impossible!" J shouted angrily, "That machine wasn't supposed to be able to malfunction."

_Well we're glad it did,_ Brock thought as he looked at Kellyn and Gary.

Hunter J faced Ash and co. while throwing out her Scyther, Drapion and Salamence and began to do battle with them.

"Her pulse is still there," Gary informed, "it's beating unnaturally fast though. I suspect it might be the poison." _I wonder whether this Pokémon Hunter J knows that Alena has been poisoned by that Iron Mask guy,_ he pondered in deep thought. _If she was made known of that, maybe she might let her go. Should we risk it? Alena is in so much pain already, I don't think any of us could bear if she got hurt even more._

Alena suddenly gasped and her eyes shot open, her breaths loud and deep.

"Alena!" Both he and Kellyn gasped, but she couldn't hear them.

She blindly stared ahead in front of her before the world focussed around her slowly and she blinked up at Kellyn and Gary.

"G-Guys," she breathed, "h-help me up."

Kellyn shook his head quickly. "No way, you're too injured and weak to be standing up and walking around," he argued.

"You're still poisoned, remember?" Gary pointed out.

"T-This is important," she retorted, trying to sit up by herself. She would get up with or without their help.

Quickly both boys put a hand on her back, helping ease her up into a sitting position against Kellyn.

"Do you even _know_ how valuable this girl is?!" J was shouting angrily, "My client is paying me a fortune for her!"

Alena stood up shakily, her left hand over the wound on her stomach. Weakly she glared at the Pokémon Hunter before looking at her staring friends. "So I guess your client knows my true identity too," she guessed.

"What do you mean?" Ash inquired in confusion.

Taking a deep breath, she stared at them. "My name is Alena Westwood," she announced, "and not only am I a Pokémon Ranger, but I'm one of the three legendary Guardians of the Aura, the others being a certain Riolu and Lucario."

"What?!" all her friends exclaimed in utter shock.

J smirked evilly at her. "How else do you think she has the ability to use Aura Sphere? Why do you all think her capture was to be executed as swiftly as possible? One of the three legendary Guardians of the Aura, and the only currently living human to be one too. Anyone who sees an Aura Sphere used by either one of those three is called to be famous enough. Remember that Riolu I tried to capture before? I thought _that_ Riolu was one of the guardians, but apparently it wasn't. It was only the Inheritor of Aura. This pathetic ranger is my most beneficial missions ever. Well… if _I_ can't have Alena, _no one will_."

Lunging at Alena while pushing Gary and Kellyn aside, she grabbed Alena by the throat and began to choke her.

"Alena!" they shouted as her bloody hands scrabbled weakly against the hands strangling her.

"Let _go_ of her!" Ash shouted.

"Piplup! Use Peck!" Dawn ordered, and the tiny penguin Pokémon rapidly pecked at the hunter's legs, causing her to release the already-wounded ranger who collapsed to the ground.

Gary ran to help her up to her feet, and she summoned up an Aura Sphere.

"If the Aura Sphere of one of the Guardians of Aura is so famous," she breathed, "then you should feel honoured."

Releasing the larger-than-normal Aura Sphere, and it blew a huge hole in one side of the ship.

"Hurry! Let's get outta here!" Gary shouted to the others, realizing what she'd done for them.

"NO!" J cried in defile, pointing with her finger towards them and her Scyther, Drapion and Salamence moved forward to attack.

Alena shot three more Aura Spheres, one hitting each of the Pokémon before the place was in dust and smoke. Immediately Ash and co. ran out through the hole into the hallway, turning back to make sure the others were behind them. But Alena had collapsed down to the ground and Gary tried to chide her up before getting ready to pick her up.

But someone else had already beat him to it. Kellyn carefully picked her up on his back, her arms thrown around his neck as her head lay on his shoulder. Now they could make a quicker escape this way.

"K-Kellyn," Alena whispered, looking at him weakly before closing her eyes. "Just leave me. It's not like I'm going to make it anyway. I can already feel the poison weaken me." Her voice grew quieter. "And then there's that other thing…"

He shook his head as he and Gary followed after Ash and the others quickly. "I'm not leaving without you, and neither are the others, especially Dragonair. Its been worried about you ever since you disappeared on us. And… so have I."

Suddenly, they all stopped, as they had reached a dead end.

"Where can we go now?!" Dawn exclaimed, "J's not going to be far behind us!"

Alena glanced weakly at Dragonair. "I need your help old friend," she muttered quietly just enough that the Pokémon could hear her as it went over to her and pressed its nose against her cheek, sending her strength.

"Alena, you shouldn't," Brock chided, "you're injured enough. You've lost too much blood."

Ash looked at his best friend. "Pikachu, try using Volt Tackle," he suggested.

Pikachu charged against the metal wall, only causing a slight dent in it. "Pika!" it shouted as it fell back into Ash's arms.

"Pikachu!" he exclaimed in slight panic, "You okay, buddy?"

"Pika!" the mouse replied semi-cheerfully.

Kellyn glanced back worriedly at the ranger he held as she closed her azure eyes, sighing as she felt Dragonair's strength slowly enter her. Opening them once more, she summoned up a huge Aura Sphere, astounding Kellyn as he stared at the glowing blue sphere in front of him, before she shot it hard against the wall, the attack instantly melting away at the metal.

"Amazing!" Dawn breathed. Even though she had seen both Alena and Riolu use Aura Sphere before, she was still breath taken by the power behind that little blue sphere.

Pushing herself off of Kellyn's back and onto her feet, Alena forced herself to run and jump out the hole, freefalling down before allowing her to transform into a baby Lugia. Hearing the shouts of her name, she flew back up and noticed that Dragonair had flown out as well.

"Ash, Dawn, Brock, Gary, get on Dragonair's back. Kellyn, hop on mine. You too, Leafeon," Alena ordered roughly, blinking in slight pain as blood stained her white wings and blue stomach. Turning around, she felt Kellyn hesitate before jumping on as the others returned most of their Pokémon to their Pokéballs, while Leafeon effortlessly hopped onto her back, setting itself against Kellyn. Turning her head to see Dragonair holding Ash and the others on its back securely, they began to fly off. They found themselves flying overtop a deep chasm in the middle of the vast forest, unknown of what could be at the bottom.

"Not so fast!" a familiar voice shouted, and they glanced back to see Hunter J on her Salamence flying after them.

"Scramble!" Gary called to Alena and Dragonair.

"Salamence! Use Hyper Beam!" J ordered at the same time.

Taking notice that the beam was aimed for Dragonair and the others, Alena flew in front of them and took the full impact of the blast against her stomach, smoke erupting around them before they saw the Lugia, Kellyn and Leafeon fall out of the sky towards the chasm. Lugia glowed and transformed back into Alena's human form, her eyes closed as she openly freefell from the sky with the others.

"NOO!" Ash, Dawn, Brock and Gary screamed out simultaneously as Pikachu and Piplup chimed in with their own cries.

Dragonair let out a terrified wail as it moved to chase after them to save them. But was stopped as Hunter J's Salamence attacked with another Hyper Beam, blocking off their path. Dragonair angrily used Thunder Wave coming from its horn, hitting the Hyper Beam head on before it exploded.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash cried and Pikachu leaped up into the air.

"Pika… chuu!" it growled as electricity sparked from its cheeks and impacted Salamence and J, shocking them.

As Dragonair turned to catch Pikachu again on its back, they all looked down to see signs of Alena, Kellyn or Leafeon, but to no avail. They had disappeared through the chasm.

Gary's eyes widened in realization. He whispered under his breath, "No…" He knew very well that if Alena wasn't tended to soon, she would soon die.

* * *

**Well... that's it for this chapter. **

**Will Alena make it? Will Kellyn admit his feelings in time before its too late? Find out next time! lol. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	7. Lost

**Here's the next chapter! I hope you all like it! Happy Thanksgiving people!**

**PLEASE R&R! **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
****Claimer: everything else (c) me**

**

* * *

**

Chapter Seven: Lost

Kellyn's eyes fluttered open as he fell, suddenly aware that he was falling. Looking up, he saw Dragonair and the others begin to engage battle with J, and he looked around to see Leafeon panicking and Alena's unconscious body.

"Leafeon! Alena!" he shouted, and the Pokémon moved itself towards him.

Turning to Alena, Kellyn forced his way to her before grabbing onto her as they plummeted in between the huge dark crack.

Scrunching his eyes tight, he thought, _this could be it._

10 seconds later, they splashed into a river, plunging deep as Kellyn unintentionally let go of the both of them as they were washed away with the powerful current.

"A-Alena!" Kellyn choked as water found its way into his mouth, "L-Leafeon!"

Alena was called back from unconsciousness by the icy cold water, her eyes fluttering open as she realized their situation. Diving down under the water, she allowed her body to change slightly, letting her legs transform into the beautiful tail of a Milotic. Swimming up, she broke through the surface, shaking away wet strands of hair as she fought against the pain from her stinging wounds. Wading towards the others, she called out Kellyn's name and grabbed his hand, while Leafeon padded over to them the best they could before she swam over to the forest Pokémon, pulling it into her arms.

"Alena, are you okay?" Kellyn inquired.

She shook her head, allowing Leafeon to hang onto her while she dug around in her waterlogged pockets, pulling out two wet breathing devices. Handing one to Kellyn, she helped put the other on Leafeon's mouth before they dived under, allowing the current to drag them through the water. Alena's blood mixed with the water, and Alena slipped unconscious with the cold temperature of the water, freezing her inside. Her tail transformed back into her legs and she was about to drift away from the group when Kellyn grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards them. Pointing up, Kellyn and Leafeon paddled up to the surface, dragging Alena up with them.

"Alena?" Kellyn called to her as he held her while removing the breather.

Finding that she was unconscious, he saw that they were approaching an underground stream.

"Oh no," he breathed before they slipped under the water, and he was suddenly knocked unconscious from his head getting hit against the side of the wall.

Unconsciously both rangers drifted in the current, Leafeon soon joining them in forced sleep as water flowed into its lungs as it accidentally let go of its own breather. The three friends drifted limply, letting the current take them wherever they may go.

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_Mmm… where am I?_ Kellyn thought as he let his eyes flutter open. He found himself lying sprawled on the grass on his back, staring up into the blue sky. The sun was high in the sky, so he safely assumed it was around past noon. His clothes were dry and warm, as if he was never in the river. Hearing the sound of rushing water, he knew that he had probably washed up somewhere. Tilting his head to the left, he could see dozens of various forest Pokémon staring at him. Another group was gather around Leafeon as it had already been awake, and was licking softly at a wound on its paw. Turning his head to the right, he noticed Alena's motionless body just barely washed up from the shore. A few Buizel were rinsing the wounds on her arms with a light Water Gun before several Spinarak sealed up the wounds using String Shot, making a silky bandage. A Nuzleaf was carefully patting at the wound on her stomach with a makeshift silk cloth.

"Alena!" he gasped, scrambling over to her, causing all the Pokémon to stare while the Buizel, Spinarak and Nuzleaf stood back.

Kellyn pressed his ear against her chest, listening to her fading heartbeat. Sighing in relief, he placed his hand over her mouth and felt her exhale against his skin. Thinking hard, he grabbed the bottle of healing water from her pocket, he uncorked it.

_We're in a desperate situation here,_ he thought as he poured most of the contents into her mouth.

Coughing while choking slightly, the liquid flowed down her throat, and her wounds closed, leaving only a trace of a scar. Colour and blood returned to her cheeks and face, and he knew she'd be alright, or at least so he thought. Smiling, he walked over to Leafeon and dripped the rest of the healing water into its mouth. Almost instantly its wound healed, and it leaped up onto its paws.

"W-Where am I?" they heard a weak voice croak, and both turned to look at Alena, who lay there in exhaustion. Turning her head towards them as they approached, she gave them a weak smile.

"Hey," Kellyn greeted smoothly, kneeling down next to her as he helped her up into a sitting position, propping her up against him.

"Mmm… so tired," she sighed, her head laying on his shoulder, "I can see that you gave me the water."

"Yeah," he agreed. "You look much healthier now, and _not_ dying."

She shook her head weakly. "Oh, if only that were true," she breathed, blinking up at him. "Just because my wounds are healed… doesn't mean the poison has left my body. Not to mention there's that other thing…"

"What thing?" he implored worriedly.

"You know how I can use Aura Sphere?" she began quietly. "It doesn't come without a price. Every time I use Aura Sphere… it's using a portion of my own Aura. My life force. My limit is only 7 Aura Spheres per day."

He quickly thought back to the times she used Aura Sphere. "But you've only used 7," he argued.

Closing and reopening her eyes, she looked up at him through half-open eyes. "Then I used it once on Hunter J's ship before you came to rescue me," she whispered.

"No…" he breathed, "It _can't_ be."

"I can probably only barely last the rest of the day or something," she told him. "Most likely I'll die later tonight. The longest I can probably last is about dawn tomorrow morning."

"No!" he barked, "you're not going to die, Alena. I promised I would protect you."

She reached up to touch his cheek, staring into his deep blue eyes. "You can't save me from Death, Kellyn," she murmured as she let her eyes close.

Holding her close against him, resting his cheek on her forehead. "You've got to hold on," he told her as his eyes were hard and set.

"I will," she replied gently before correcting herself. "Well… what I'm trying to say is that I'll try to hold on as long as I can, but I can't hold on forever."

Picking her up, he looked at the other Pokémon and asked aloud, "Do you know anywhere we could perhaps stay?"

Looking at one another, the Pokémon began to lead him and Leafeon for about 10 minutes until they reached a cave, where Kellyn gently set Alena down on the ground, resting her head against the floor. Turning to Leafeon, he kneeled down and told it, "You stay here and watch over her. I'm going to find us some firewood. We'll need it later when it starts to get dark. I'll see if I can also contact Headquarters. Take care of her, okay?"

It barked in reply, settling down next to Alena and she pat it on the head gently as she smiled.

"Be careful out there, Kellyn," she warned quietly. "We don't know what may be out there."

He gave her a thumbs-up, grinning. "Got it," he replied confidently before taking off.

Sighing, she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position before she pulled herself to sit against one of the cave walls. Leafeon whined gently by her side as it slipped under her arm and pressed itself against her.

"It's okay," Alena reassured, pulling out her flute. Drying it against her clothes, she blew hard, blowing out the remaining water inside. Following that, she began to play a quick, complex tune.

Moments later, three Furret popped their heads into the cave before dashing over towards her, staring at her in wonder.

Pointing her Vatonage Capture Styler, she called, "Capture on! Vatonage!" Waving a series of rings and figure-8's around the Furrets with her two fingers, she captured them all at once. "Capture complete. Furret, I need you guys to go see if you could find something for me. It's really important. It's a matter of life and death."

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Kellyn looked around before looking at the communicator on his styler. There was only static on the screen.

_Hmm… I wonder where we are. Normally this wouldn't happen. Ugh… where's Kate when you need her help to fix stuff like this?_ He thought grimly. _Well… if I had a screwdriver I could do this myself. Maybe it's only the connection?_

Moments later after he closed the screen, the styler beeped, and he flipped it open once more.

_Or maybe not,_ he added.

"Kellyn here," he said.

A familiar blue-haired girl looked at him with a smile. "Hi, it's Solana. Headquarters lost contact with you so they called me to search for you guys. Where are you? Ash and the others are a little panicked right now."

"Hey Solana," he responded. "I'm not quite sure where we are right now. Can you track our stylers' coordinates and find us?"

"Yep, but it seems you're at least a day's trek." She replied, her expression dropping slightly into one of worry. "How's Alena doing?"

"Not well," he admitted. "She only has until dawn tomorrow. All her wounds have healed up, it's just that the poison is still within her. Not to mention even _if_ we could get the cure she'd die anyway."

Both Ash and Dawn popped into view at the sides of the screen.

"Why's that?" Dawn inquired, her eyes filled with concern.

Kellyn sighed heavily. "It's because Alena's used too much Aura Sphere in one day. It uses up part of her own Aura. Without it she'll die. She's reached her limit."

"That's terrible," Ash breathed. "How is she holding out right now?"

"She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but I think she doesn't have long," he answered. "I came out here to find some firewood for later tonight when it starts to get dark. I should probably get going back soon. Alena might need me."

Dragging Ash away, Gary took his place on the screen.

"Kellyn," he began in a stern voice, his eyes hard. "If we can't make it to you guys in time… you need to tell Alena that you love her. Or else she'll die not knowing how you truly feel about her. And you'll never know whether she may feel the same way or not."

The ranger nodded. "Contact me when you think you're close to arriving."

"Good luck Kellyn," Solana wished as the transmission ended.

Looking around, he spotted several wild Scyther eating berries.

"Capture on!" he exclaimed, shooting the capture disk towards them, "Vatonage!"

"Scyther!" they said as they were successfully captured.

"Capture complete," he stated in satisfaction, "Scyther, I need all of your help. I need you to cut me some firewood."

All three Pokémon dipped their heads as they began to neatly cut up firewood before Kellyn led them back to the cave. He found Alena asleep against the cave wall, her face set in peace. Leafeon was curled alongside her, wide awake. Noticing Kellyn's return, it stood up and hopped over to him.

"Just lay it all down over there," Kellyn told the Scyther quietly, looking at the corner of the cave, "thank you."

As the Pokémon left, he kneeled down next to Alena, touching her face warily, to see whether she'd wake up.

"Furret?" she mumbled, opening her eyes to find herself looking at Kellyn. "Oh, sorry Kellyn, I thought you were one of the Furret I sent off to look for something."

"What was it?" he inquired.

Shaking her head, she looked back at him tiredly. "Don't worry about it," she sighed, "What time is it approximately?"

"Around 1, I'm guessing," he guessed before checking his styler, "yeah, past one. Are you getting hungry? Breakfast was kind of interrupted."

She shook her head again, giving him a faint smile. "No," she whispered, "how could I be hungry? I'll be dead in 12 hours."

Stroking her cheek gently, he gave her a sad smile. "I promise I'll be here for you when you leave us," he promised, "I won't let you die alone."

"Thanks," she sighed, reaching up shakily to touch his cheek. "I'm sorry I'm putting you through this pain. I'm sorry I'll be leaving you alone here."

Taking her hand, he pressed it against his cheek. Her hand was icy cold. "Don't say that. I'm glad I met you that afternoon you saved my life from that Pokémon Hunter."

"A-Ahhh…" she choked as her breath hitched slightly as her face tightened in pain. "Ugh," she groaned. "Sorry… it's painful to breathe. Heh, it's hard even to talk. But it's nothing I haven't experienced before. I've had worse."

"Alena, I'm so sorry," Kellyn apologized, "you don't deserve any of this."

"Thanks," she replied quietly as she closed her eyes in rest, "just as much as you don't deserve being here and feeling my pain."

He leaned forward, about to kiss her before he stopped himself, moving his lips to the side so he kissed her cheek gently. "Well… I'm here, and I'm glad I could spend all the time I did with you. You're a great caring person, Alena, as well as a unique and astounding ranger. You can connect with Pokémon in a way no other ranger can ever through your music."

_I don't know why I can't say it,_ he thought. _I don't know what's stopping me from saying 'I love you'.__ In a few hours I may never see the light in her eyes again._

"Hey Kellyn?" she murmured gently, opening her eyes to look at him once more.

"Mmm?" he replied.

She gave him a kind smile. "Thanks for coming back for me. You guys could have just left me to die, but instead you guys all came to find me," she told him. "I'm sorry I can't repay your kindness before I leave all of you."

Shaking his head, he smiled back. "Your friendship and trust is all the thanks we need."

Sighing gently, she glanced outside the cave. "This is going to be a long afternoon. I can't really do much, considering the poison is slowing me down, and then my Aura is fading too…" Her eyes glistened as she blinked back tears. "It won't be too long now…"

Kellyn brushed away the hair from her face and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll take care of you," he said quietly.

* * *

**Awww... **

**well... I hope you guys liked this chapter! **

**Please Review! (I'd be thankful if you did! lol. Happy Thanksgiving people!) **


	8. The Lost Farewell

**Well... here's the next chapter. Warning: Very sad but with fluff. Hope you like it!**

**PLEASE R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Lost Farewell

After a soup boiled by Kellyn and helped with by the Pokémon, Alena and Kellyn sat across from each other as they told their stories. Leafeon curled up next to Alena, and as the time past, Kellyn noticed that she was getting paler and weaker by the hour.

"Alena," Kellyn told her, "we should get some sleep. I'd rather you die in peace then worrying about your last words and such."

She smiled as he helped her lay down on her back before lying down next to her as Leafeon put out the fire. Entwining his fingers in hers, he pulled himself closer to her as he felt her tremble and shiver. Alena moved herself closer to him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Thanks," she murmured quietly, closing her eyes. She could feel his warm breath against her hair. "Good night, Kellyn."

She felt him hesitate, before replying quietly, "Good night… Alena. Will this be goodbye?"

"I'll wake you if I can before it happens," she answered, "but if I cannot… then yes. This is goodbye."

"Alena, I-" he began before halting, "I-I'm glad I met you."

"I'm glad I met you too," she told him before exhaustion washed over her, drifting to sleep.

Pressing his face against her hair, he whispered, "I love you."

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Hours later, Kellyn found himself waking from a nightmare. Tensing, he looked down at Alena in his arms, finding that her face was buried against his chest, her body moulded against his. He could feel her weak heartbeat through her shirt, and he could hear her faint breathing. Turning her easily onto her back, he stood up, walking out of the cave as quietly as he could.

_I guess I'll just go to the stream and cool off my face,_ he thought, _might get my mind off that nightmare I had… _

He heard soft footsteps and turned around to see Leafeon padding after him, barking softly.

"I'm just heading over to the stream," he told it quietly. "Go back to sleep. I'll be okay."

But Leafeon continued to pad on after him, brushing gently against his leg before barking happily up at him.

"Okay," he sighed, chuckling quietly, "if you really want to come with me. Let's go. The quicker we go the quicker we can get back."

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_It's almost time,_ a silky voice chimed into her head.

Alena's eyes fluttered open as she stared up at the rocky ceiling. Without needing to turn her head, she could sense that Kellyn and Leafeon were not with her in the cave.

_So I'll be alone after all,_ she thought as her vision blurred slightly before she closed her eyes, _Kellyn… I entrust the power of Aura to you… I name you… successor of the Aura…_

She could feel her mind drifting, and with the last ounce of strength in her body, she raised her hand extended towards the ceiling. When she opened her eyes for the last time, she could see the stars and the night sky beyond the cave ceiling.

_Goodbye…everyone…_ she thought.

As her azure eyes glazed over before her eyelids closed over them, her hand dropped, falling to the ground with a lifeless thump. Alena was dead.

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In Alena's friends' minds, they had seen her hand fall and heard her last words of farewell, and all awoke with a jolt.

"No…" Gary breathed.

Hearing wails of grief, he, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, Piplup and Pokémon Ranger Solana turned to see Dragonair crying, tears of gold falling from its dark liquid eyes. It had felt its partner's death. And they had all seen her hand drop lifelessly to the floor.

"W-Was that real?" Dawn whispered, tears glistening in her own eyes as she hugged Piplup tightly.

Gary looked away, not wanting to believe it himself. "Alena told me before," he choked, "that when Dragonair cried tears of gold… it meant that she had died."

"Pika-pi," Pikachu cried, running into Ash's embrace.

"I hope that Kellyn was with her," Solana said sadly. "No one deserves to die alone."

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Kellyn looked up abruptly as he saw the hand in his mind's eye, feeling a strange change within him.

"It can't be," he breathed. "No…"

Leafeon barked in a panicked tone before it ran off, heading back towards the cave. Kellyn dashed after it, hoping in his heart that it wasn't too late.

As they approached the cave, they noticed that there were dozens of various Pokémon crying in grief outside the opening.

"No!" Kellyn exclaimed, running through the entrance.

The place was too quiet for his liking. Then the moment he saw her… he knew.

Dropping to his knees next to her body, he drew her into his arms, holding her close, tears falling from his eyes.

"Alena, Alena," he sobbed, burying his face in her hair, "I'm so sorry. I promised you I'd s-stay with you and be with you when you died."

Leafeon cried while it nuzzled its nose into Alena's hand.

Kellyn gazed into her face through tearful blue eyes. "There's something I've always wanted to tell you, Alena," he said quietly, closing his eyes. "I love you." Gently he pressed his lips against her cold, frozen mouth. Pulling away, he felt his heart clench in his chest as he knew she couldn't hear him. "I'm sorry I never had the guts to tell you that, but… I love you."

_This is my fault,_ he thought, _because I left, I let her die alone._

"Alena…" he murmured, burying his face against the crook of her neck, tears flooding over as he sobbed gently against her body, moaning her name in bitter agony.

_Why did she have to die? Why did it have to be her?_ He thought bitterly. _Why couldn't I protect her? I promised both her and myself that I'd protect her from anything and everything. I couldn't even do a simple mission like protecting a fellow ranger that could also defend herself. I can defend others, and perform a rescue by myself, but I couldn't even protect a young woman. What's wrong with me?_

Leafeon, still crying, brushed itself against Kellyn with a whimper, as if to tell him it wasn't his fault. But he knew all too well that it very well was his fault. If he hadn't left he would have been with her.

Hearing two pairs of footsteps behind him, he turned to find a Lucario and a Riolu standing behind him.

"So we were too late," Lucario said through telepathy.

"Who are _you_, Pokémon Ranger?" Riolu demanded.

"Y-You can talk?" Kellyn stammered in slight surprise, holding Alena closer against him.

Riolu dipped its head as they both approached. "We are the two of the three Guardians of Aura. Alena was our friend and companion, as she was the third Guardian."

"Alena…" Lucario murmured gently as it placed a paw on her forehead. "Her Aura is gone."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Riolu inquired Lucario quietly.

The Aura Pokémon looked at its pre-evolution form. "If we are able to find the 'Essence of Aura' and give it to her, we can bring her back."

"Wait, what's the 'Essence of Aura'?" Kellyn interrupted.

"It's a potion, in fact, it's the only thing that can bring her back," Lucario answered.

A crazy blaze of hope burned in his eyes as he stared at them. "Where is it?!"

"That's the point… its supposedly legendary, though there were suggestions that only the human Guardian of Aura, Alena, knew of the potion's whereabouts," Riolu added. "But… we never had the opportunity to ask her. But its not like she would reveal it to us unless under desperate circumstances."

"Then why didn't she try to find it? Why didn't she tell me where it was?" Kellyn inquired.

"She was being hunted, wasn't she," Lucario guessed. "She wouldn't willingly put anyone else in danger for her sake, _including_ a Pokémon Ranger."

Pulling Alena's cold body against his chest, he tucked her head under his chin. "I love her so much," he said quietly. "She protected me from a Pokémon Hunter within the first 5 minutes of meeting me."

"It's her job as a Top Pokémon Ranger," it responded.

"As it was mine to protect her," he murmured guiltily. "I loved her. I loved her with all my heart."

Lucario and Riolu exchanged a glance.

"As so we've realized," Lucario added. "Alena's aura has been strikingly mixed with yours. She has named you the new human Guardian of Aura in her stead."

"W-What?" he choked, "S-She did that? She chose me? H-How?"

Riolu sighed, "Before a Guardian dies, they can name the new Guardian of Aura to take their place. If they do not select someone, Fate chooses instead. But Alena chose you, probably because she trusts you and knows you'll do well. After the previous Guardian dies, their Aura will mix with the new Guardian to give them strength."

"You were destined to meet," Lucario added, "your destinies were entwined… as was all of ours, except… I guess they were never meant to be joined. You two were destined to meet, so that Alena could select the next Guardian to take her duty."

Kellyn looked back down at Alena's body. "So… does that mean that if we hadn't met… she wouldn't have died?"

"No one can predict what could have been," Riolu said. "The future can always be changed. That includes Alena's. By giving her the 'Essence of Aura', we can bring her back to life."

Pressing his lips against her forehead, he gently set her back on the ground, turning back to the two Pokémon.

"What can I do?" he asked, his eyes hard and determined.

* * *

**Awww.... Will Kellyn be able to bring her back? Or will he be forced to live with the fact that his only love will remain unrequited forever?  
Find out next time!**

**PLEASE REVIEW (and I'll update as soon as I can! Reviews keep me going! So PLEASE REVIEW!)!!!!!!!!!!**


	9. Where'd she go?

**Well... here's the next chapter! Hope you like it! Thanks for ~PerlaNemesis for reviewing the last few chapters, I really appreciate it! **

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Nine: Where'd she go?

The flames crackled and lapped at the air as Kellyn sat against the wall, holding Alena's body against him, rocking it back and forth gently in his arms. He could imagine her beautiful azure eyes in his head, a kind smile creeping onto her mouth. But he knew nothing could be done to see her again unless he gave her the 'Essence of Aura'. Leafeon, Lucario and Riolu had gone out to search nearby for the mystical potion, but they had not yet returned.

"Alena, please, come back to me," he murmured to her, touching her cold, frozen face.

Propping her body up against him, he brushed away her hair and kissed her on the forehead, holding her close.

"Whatever you say and do won't bring her back," a familiar voice said.

Kellyn turned to see Riolu and Lucario standing at the entrance of the cave. Leafeon padded up to Kellyn with sad dark eyes.

"Any luck?" the ranger inquired.

They shook their heads.

"I'm afraid not," Lucario responded, "We've looked everywhere we've imagined it could be."

"But we found nothing," Riolu sighed. "Even with the assistance of the other forest Pokémon, we still had no luck finding it, or even have _any idea_ where it could be."

The Top Ranger looked back down at his now-forever unrequited love. "S-So there's no hope, then? No hope to bring Alena back?" he whispered.

"We're not giving up on the third Guardian of Aura yet," Riolu mentioned. "We've alerted the other Pokémon and they're going to try their best to find it. In the meantime, there isn't much we can do."

"Solana and the others should be arriving sometime tomorrow. But… we were all too late. She died anyway, all alone. She didn't deserve any of the pain she went through."

"Kellyn, there wasn't anything you or anyone could have done for her," Lucario stated.

Suddenly, three Furrets sprinted into the room, a fancy closed flask in one of their mouths. As it dropped it back into its paws, it looked at Alena's body; at the ranger that had called for them to search for the item they had.

"Furret…" one of the Furrets purred sadly, poking at her arm with a paw.

"What do you have there with you?" Lucario inquired.

The Furret with the flask scurried over to Lucario, handing the Aura Pokémon the flask.

The design-woven glass contained a shimmering blue liquid, tiny wisps of light floating around in it. It looked practically enchanted.

"I-I-Is that-?" Kellyn broke off.

"Yes, _this_ flask contains the 'Essence of Aura'. It's the only one in the whole world, and we have it," Riolu said in cheerfulness. "With this we can bring her back. However… there is one more thing we'll need to bring Alena back; someone that loves her."

With that being said all six of the Pokémon looked at Kellyn. Leafeon barked at him.

Kellyn took the flask Lucario offered to him and opened it, sniffing at the strangely sweet-smelling liquid. Pouring the liquid into his mouth, he pressed his lips against hers, forcing the liquid down her throat. When he pulled away, he could taste what seemed like blueberry, and still taste the sweet flavour of Alena's mouth.

"Alena, please… I love you," he whispered.

Her body was suddenly engulfed in a blinding white light, floating out of Kellyn's arms in front of him. A ring of white light pulsed from her, knocking them all back. Kellyn was cleanly knocked out as the force knocked him back against the wall, his head smacking against the stone wall.

Before slipping into unconsciousness, his thoughts rang over and over in his head, _Alena… Alena… Alena…_

_xXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

When Kellyn opened his eyes, he found himself lying on his side alone in the cave, light pouring in from outside.

_Where am I? Where is everyone? _He wondered, sitting up abruptly.

"Alena!" he gasped, looking around for the young woman.

All the Top Ranger found was an abandoned Vatonage Styler, and Kellyn picked it up, immediately recognizing it to be Alena's.

"But she's still dead, isn't she?" he murmured to himself, suddenly remembering that they had found the 'Essence of Aura'. "But if _that_ all happened… then where _are_ they?"

Looking at the clock on his Styler, apparently it was already noon.

_How long have I been asleep?_ He thought, _More or less, how did I allow myself to sleep this long?_

Standing up, he stretched out his muscles and walked outside the cave, looking around. Walking to the stream to wash up, he heard the calls of various Pokémon to each other.

As he arrived at the stream, he dipped his hands into the crystal clear stream and splashed the water against his face.

Suddenly, he heard familiar calls of his name, as well as Alena's and Leafeon's.

"Solana! Ash! Dawn! Brock! Gary! I'm over here!" he cried out.

Within moments, the teens, as well as Pikachu, Piplup and Dragonair were running to his side.

"Kellyn!"Solana exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

He dipped his head. "I'm fine. But… Alena and Leafeon have disappeared."

"What happened?" Gary demanded.

Kellyn summarized the previous afternoon's events to them, and Dragonair thrashed its tail back and forth impatiently as it still was terribly worried and concerned for its partner.

"What?! A Riolu and Lucario went to you guys?!" Dawn gasped.

"The 'Essence of Aura', wow," Gary breathed, "I remember reading that in one of grandpa's books."

"But if Alena received it from you, wouldn't that mean she's alive?" Brock inquired.

"But there's only a chance of that, isn't there?" Brock mentioned.

Ash looked at them. "But isn't it told that it _would_ bring the person back; not just a chance?" he inquired.

"But we can't get our hopes up if it isn't true," Solana said. "It'll only hurt more."

"And if she _is_ alive, I have no idea where they could have gone," Kellyn added, "her Styler was in the cave when I woke up, so we have no way to track her."

"Maybe she reported to Headquarters?" the other Ranger suggested.

He shook his head. "But she still wouldn't have left her Styler. It's as if she just wanted to vanish. We could try looking for her, but there's still not much chance we'd find her."

"So what should we do?" Dawn inquired.

Without warning, the ground shook as the Iron Masked Marauder clambered out on his huge metal claw machine.

"One, you could tell me where Alena's body is, and two; you could tell me who the _new_ human Guardian of Aura is," he cackled.

"Not _you_ again!" Dawn shouted.

Gary growled, "When are you going to give up?"

Dragonair hissed angrily, knowing that the Iron Mask was the one who poisoned its best friend in the first place. It unleashed a Dragon Rage on the machine, and it was harmlessly deflected on the metal.

"Ha," the Team Rocket member smirked, "there's no way a measly attack like _that_ could destroy my machine."

Out of nowhere, an Aura Sphere flew out of nowhere, striking the cold metal, making only a dent in the machine.

"So Alena _is_ alive," he grinned evilly.

_Alena!_ Kellyn and the others thought immediately, but instead, Lucario leaped out from the bushes and to their side.

"Lucario!" Kellyn exclaimed, truthfully disappointed that it wasn't the Ranger he was hoping for, "Where's Alena? Is she alive?"

The Pokémon dipped its head, speaking to them quietly. "She's alive. But she's recuperating right now. She's with Riolu and the Leafeon elsewhere. She will be joining us shortly, though she'll be a little disoriented and dizzy."

_So she's alive! _The Top Ranger thought in joy.

Iron Mask grinned. "So it's a Lucario… hmm… and I thought I had stumbled onto the resurrected form of the human Guardian of Aura," he cackled. "Well… a Lucario is just as rare as the Guardians themselves… therefore…"

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered quickly.

Pikachu leaped into the air. "Pika… chuuuuu!" Electricity sparked from its body and hit the Iron Mask's machine, barely doing any damage.

"Piplup, try a bubble beam!" Dawn suggested.

"Pip… lupluplup!" A stream of transparent bubbles flew from the tiny penguin Pokémon's mouth, also doing no damage to the strong metal.

Lucario looked at Pikachu and Piplup. "Let's try combining our attacks," it suggested.

All at once, the three Pokémon launched their attacks, combining into one powerful beam, which hit the metal machine and left no more than a deep dent.

"This is crazy!" Kellyn exclaimed.

"Umbreon, come on out!" Gary called, releasing one of the evolutions of Eevee. "Umbreon, try a Shadow Ball!"

The dark black and purple ball did no damage, as did the previous attacks too.

"Nothing's working!" Brock pointed out.

Both Solana and Kellyn had looked around, but they had no success in finding any Pokémon that could help them out.

"Ah! What can we do?!" Solana panicked.

"Stall for time until Alena can arrive," Lucario answered. "After her resurrection using the 'Essence of Aura', all of her powers are strengthened. She can now use Aura Sphere without limit, as the rush of Aura back into her body will 'overflow', and she really needs to release all that energy somehow."

"So it will strengthen her powers and abilities…" Gary murmured, "So why not use that power on _this_ guy?"

"That makes sense," Brock agreed.

"So all we have to do is stall him," Dawn said. "Piplup, use Whirlpool!"

"Umbreon, use Shadow Ball!"

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

Solana and Kellyn just captured any damage-dealing Pokémon and all of them began to pound various attacks on Iron Mask's diabolical machine while the hunter laughed.

"Try all you want, nothing will work. You're all only going to be able to make dents," he bragged.

_We'll see about that once Alena arrives,_ Ash thought with a smirk on his face.

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5 minutes later, to the Iron Mask it seemed like all of their efforts were wasted as he used his machine to avoid some attacks and return his own.

"You guys ready to give up yet?" he mocked, a greedy smirk on his face.

All of the group's Pokémon were exhausted and panting. Things were getting a little rough.

"N-Never," Ash breathed, as he and the others were panting tiredly too from dodging the villain's counterattacks.

Without warning, a huge wave of Razor Leaf came from out of nowhere and bombarded the machine.

"What the-?!" Iron Mask broke off as the machine swerved from the force.

Two Aura Spheres followed, causing huge dents in the already super dented machine.

In one smooth and quick motion, Alena, Riolu, and a huge group of Leafeon hopped down in front of Ash, Dawn, Brock, Gary, Solana and Kellyn.

"Remember me?" Alena greeted with a smile, eyes narrowed.

She looked as alive as she was just two days ago, and her hair blew softly around her shoulders. Dragonair whined happily at the sight of its best friend alive and well.

"Y-You're supposed to be dead," the hunter breathed, "I-I-I killed you, I know I did! T-The poison should have killed you!"

"Funny, do I _look_ dead to you?" she retorted sharply.

"Well… you _do_ look a little pale," Brock piped up.

She felt like she was about to fall over, and immediately took a step to rebalance herself, and Iron Mask took the opportunity to snatch out one of his claws at her, which she instantly dodged, landing softly on the ground before falling over.

"Ugh," she moaned, rolling out of the way as the iron claw shot out again.

"Alena!" Kellyn and the others exclaimed.

Kellyn immediately rushed to her side as she came to a stop. Setting his hands on her shoulders, he looked at her, and his hands brushed down to her warm arms. She really was alive again; she had returned to him.

She pushed him away from her as the claw shot out once more, ensnaring Alena in its metal fingers.

"Alena!" her friends cried.

_No! Not again!_ Kellyn thought painfully.

"Looks like you're going to come with me the hard way," Iron Mask cackled, pressing buttons to activate the electricity.

But nothing happened, as a bright blue aura flared around her, and the claw was pushed open by the force of her power, and she fell to the ground.

"Disappear!" Alena shouted, summoning a humongous Aura Sphere where it exploded against the machine, and the Pokémon Hunter was sent blasting off out of sight.

When the smoke and dust cleared, Alena couldn't be seen, as a huge pile of metal scraps and remnants of the machine took her place. Immediately all of them knew the situation.

"Alena!" Gary and Kellyn cried the loudest out of all of them.

Hurriedly, both of them, as well as Dragonair, began digging through the rubble with the others right at their heels trying to dig out the ranger.

_Come on, Alena,_ Kellyn thought. _You've got to be okay!_

_

* * *

_**Well... I hope you liked this chapter! ALENA'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!! I'll update as soon as I can!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	10. The Return

**Well... here's the next chapter! Hope you all like it! It's rather long, and our tale will soon come to an end. About four more chapters to go. Then possible sequel... depending. xD**

**Here's a shout out to an awesome reviewer to all of my chapters so far: ~shadow-dog18  
Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews and the awesome support I've recieved so far!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Ten: The Return

"Alena! Alena!" Kellyn shouted, scrabbling through the rubble.

"Pi! Pika-pi!" Pikachu exclaimed in panic, and immediately Dragonair, Piplup, Umbreon, Riolu and Lucario were at the mouse Pokémon's side, helping them dig up what seemed like a limp hand.

Immediately the rest of them scrabbled at the metal, trying to dig up the rest of Alena's limp body.

The girl seemed to be knocked out, but she appeared unharmed.

"Alena!" Kellyn exclaimed, taking her into his arms and holding her close. "Alena, wake up!"

As her eyes half-opened, she gave him a soft smile as she glanced up at him.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she murmured, reaching up to touch his face. "You brought me back."

Pressing her hand against his cheek, he reached to stroke hers. "Alena, I love you," he admitted.

Her smile widened as her hand found his. "I know…" she replied, "when I awoke, I was greeted by Lucario, Riolu and Leafeon, and then you were knocked out. It could have only been you. And… I love you too…" she told him.

Leaning down, he gently placed his lips on hers, giving her a soft, sweet kiss. She closed her eyes and kissed back, letting her eyes close before her hand suddenly dropped from his face, her body slipping limp.

"Alena!" he shouted in alarm.

Suddenly, a wisp of blue Aura floated from Kellyn's chest into hers.

Her eyes reopened, and she sat up, leaning against Kellyn's shoulder. "Ugh… my return as the Guardian of Aura is completed. My duties still remain, and now a new duty has come up. My duty to protect _you_, Kellyn."

"What just happened?" Gary inquired.

She slowly stood up, Kellyn supporting her all the while. "My status and ability as a Guardian of Aura has returned to me."

Dragonair instantly tackled her, nuzzling against her with tears streaming down its dark eyes.

"Oh Dragonair," she sighed, hugging her old friend, "I've missed you too."

Kellyn looked at her suspiciously. "Alena, was it _you_ that kept me asleep for so long?" he guessed, "There's no way that I could have slept that long. And how come my head didn't hurt when I awoke?"

She smiled tiredly in return. "I needed to keep you asleep till the others could find you, so that's why I forced you to sleep until they could arrive. Therefore I used Sleeping Dust."

"It's nice to see you again, Alena," Solana said.

"You too, Solana," the older Ranger replied. "Your missions are going well, I hope?"

The blue-haired girl nodded.

Alena sighed heavily, her eyelids drooping shut as her knees broke under her, and she slipped into unconsciousness. Kellyn caught her as she fell, sweeping her up into his arms.

"She's sleeping," he informed everyone quickly. "She must be exhausted."

Gary looked at them. "Now we just have one more task at hand," he reminded.

"Escorting these Leafeon back the their home on the mountain," Dawn agreed.

"Not for me," Solana said, shaking her head. "I've got to be off. I've got to report to Headquarters and report in for my next mission. Not to mention I've got to inform Headquarters that Alena's alive and well."

As they bid Solana farewell, Dragonair carried Alena on its back, and Kellyn strolled alongside them, his hand gently on her back.

"She must be exhausted," Ash commented.

Lucario and Riolu exchanged a glance.

"We should be going. Its too dangerous if all three Guardians of Aura are together in the same area," Lucario advised. "It's too easy a target for Pokémon Hunters."

"Tell Alena that we're sorry that we couldn't stay, and that we'll keep in touch," Riolu added.

Lucario dipped its head. "Until our paths cross again, farewell."

Both Pokémon suddenly vanished in a flash as they went separate ways.

"How long do you think it'll take until we arrive?" Dawn inquired.

"Well… we've been off course for a while," Gary replied, taking out his laptop and checking out the area. "Let's take a break, I can take a look where's the fastest route up to the mountainside."

Dragonair whined gently before Kellyn picked Alena up into his arms and set her down against a tree, her head resting against the barky trunk. Giving her a quick kiss on the forehead, he helped Brock start a fire running as Brock got out his stew pot. Dragonair remained quiet by Alena's side as it curled up next to her.

"Dragonair really cares for her, doesn't it," Dawn murmured to Ash.

"Just like Kellyn really loves her too," he responded, the both of them glancing over at the Top Ranger.

She sighed, "You know, its really romantic how the two of them turned out. Not to mention their chemistry is just so amazing. It's so adorable!"

Alena unconsciously slipped from the tree and collapsed against Dragonair, her head resting against the Pokémon's smooth scales.

"Mmm…" Alena moaned in her sleep, barely opening her eyes. "Kellyn? Dragonair? Lucario? Riolu?"

Immediately Kellyn rushed to her side, giving her a soft and sweet kiss on the forehead.

"Hey, it's me," he murmured to her. "Are you alright?"

She nodded weakly, sitting up as Dragonair nuzzled its giant head against her cheek affectionately. "I just needed the short rest. I'll get a better night's sleep tonight. I'll last until we arrive to the town near the place. Where's Lucario and Riolu?"

Kellyn helped her up and dared to wrap an arm around her waist, keeping her close against him, her head resting against his shoulder. "They've left. They told us to tell you that they'll keep in touch and hope to see you soon."

She dipped her head. "Okay then," she said. "I haven't seen them in a while, so I suppose it was nice to see them, even though the conditions could have been better."

"That's true," he agreed.

"By the way, I've seen our destination," she suddenly announced.

"Really?" he responded in wonder. "How?"

She turned to look at him. "I'm not allowed to tell you," she said. "It would destroy the world's perspective on death."

Tenderly, he brushed away strands of her hair before leaning down to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her. Kissing back gently, her hands wound around his neck, sparking Gary's memories of the time he and Alena were like that. It burned in his heart, but he suppressed them in knowledge that they couldn't relive those days.

Slowly, Kellyn and Alena pulled apart, and Alena fixed his Buizel-like hair, chuckling slightly.

"Now, we should get helping out," Kellyn suggested.

"Yeah," she responded, going over to Brock. "Hey, how long would it normally take you to boil this?"

"Uh… about 15 minutes till its actually done," he replied. "Why?"

Her hands playfully hid behind her back. "Want some help to quicken that?" Taking the pot from him, she placed her hands under the cold metal, where her hands began to heat up, flaring a sharp blue fire below the pot, making the soup begin to bubble.

"T-That's amazing!" Ash and Dawn chimed together in surprise.

Alena looked up at Brock as the breeder-in-training was staring at the soup in shock. "You better start stirring that soup or else its gonna burn," she commented.

"O-Oh! R-Right!" he responded, immediately beginning to stir the quickly boiling soup. After a while, he looked at the her again. "Hey Alena, I think its all done now."

Immediately she quenched the fire, setting the pot back over the fire to heat while Brock got to spooning the soup into several bowls before handing them to Ash and Dawn who placed the bowls on the table. Pikachu and Piplup set the table, neatly organizing the cutlery on the folding table.

Releasing all of their Pokémon, Brock, Kellyn and Alena helped sort out the various Pokémon food into various bowls, setting them down on a large picnic blanket next to them.

"Well… eat up," Brock urged, "it's not going to finish itself now."

Cheering, they all began to eat.

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After their refreshing soup and they cleaned up, they were back on the road again, continuing their journey to the Leafeon's mountain home.

"Hmm… we've spent too much time dilly-dallying," Alena commented. "Since I know the exact location now, maybe we should fly there."

In a flash of light, she transformed into a huge golden Ho-oh.

"Now, all of the Leafeon will come with me. The rest of you will ride on Dragonair," she addressed them, flattening herself against the ground so the Pokémon could climb onto her back in between her wings.

Dragonair allowed the others to climb onto its back before it took off after Alena to the skies. As they flew up high above the clouds. Smoothly they sailed through the wind, soaring over clouds.

About 10 minutes later, Alena began to descend, Dragonair following next to them. Settling down to the ground, Alena flattened herself against the ground once more to allow the Leafeon to leap off her back before she transformed back into herself while the others dismounted Dragonair.

Kellyn hurried over to Alena as he noticed she was about to fall over. Keeping her upright, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"A little tired, honestly," she answered, shooting him a smile, "but I'll be alright."

"That's good to hear," he responded with a sigh in relief, wrapping an arm around her waist.

The Leafeon pranced around happily as they were in front of a deep, pitch-black cave.

"So… is this the place?" Ash inquired.

Alena shook her head. "It's just beyond there," she said, pointing into the cave, "just a little further."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Dawn cheered.

As they walked through the dark cave, Alena lit up a flame, lighting their way as Kellyn held onto her so she wouldn't collapse suddenly.

"Hey! There's a light at the end!" Brock exclaimed, pointing.

Excitedly, the Leafeon began to dash towards the light, the rest of them hurriedly following.

Ash, Dawn, Brock, Gary and Kellyn gasped at the sight of the beautiful landscape beyond the dark cave. There was a large waterfall falling from a cliff into a large deep lake, and walls of rock surrounded the untouched sanctuary. Green grass rolled along the field, trees surrounding the sides next to the rock wall.

"This place is amazing," Dawn breathed.

Dragonair crooned and nuzzled against Alena's cheek and she nodded, the Pokémon eagerly diving into the lake before popping its head out of the water, squealing happily as several of the Leafeon jumped in and paddled in the water.

More Leafeon and other Pokémon popped out from behind the trees or the underbrush and began to play with the other Pokémon.

"Well… since we arrived here earlier than expected," Alena began, "you guys might as well release your other Pokémon and join them in their fun."

"The sun's out, it's warm, and everyone is accounted for," Gary agreed, "why not?"

As they released all their Pokémon, everyone but Kellyn and Alena changed into their swim gear and jumped into the water with the rest of the Pokémon, relaxing and playing around. As for Kellyn and Alena, the two Pokémon Rangers sat side by side against a tree, reporting in back to Headquarters about the successfulness of their mission.

"Hey Carrie," Alena greeted, "mission complete."

"Hi Alena! Oh my gosh, I heard what happened, are you okay?" the Operator inquired quickly, her dark brown eyes set in deep worry. Her long red hair seemed a bit untidy with uneasiness.

She smiled. "I'm fine now. Kellyn's been taking good care of me," she replied, hugging herself against the other Top Ranger. "Not to mention he's the reason I'm alive here."

"So…" Carrie began curiously, "are you two dating now?"

Kellyn kissed Alena gently on the forehead. "Yep," he replied. "Now anyway, please inform Headquarters for us that our mission has been accomplished."

"Oh, and we're heading to Singling City after we leave this place," Alena added quickly. "I think I'll plan a last-minute concert party festival thing tonight."

"Awww… I wish I could see you perform," Carrie sighed, "I know you'll be wonderful."

_What are they talking about?_ Kellyn wondered as Alena replied, "Thanks, Carrie. Inform us when we have a new mission. Oh… and will I be reporting to you from now on? Or will Alexis still be calling me?"

"Well… I'll discuss it with the Director. I expect you'd want to go on missions now with your new _boyfriend_," the operator teased.

"It would more or less depend on the mission itself," Alena responded in a more serious tone. "Though I may not like it, but its less preferred, considering Pokémon Hunter J will be following my every move. I don't want to risk Kellyn's safety in one of my more dangerous missions. I'll take those ones myself like I usually do."

Carrie laughed, "If you say so! I'll report in to Alexis for you. Anyway, have fun! I'll be keeping an eye on the TV for the live broadcast of your performance tonight! Carrie out!"

As the screen went black, Kellyn closed his styler and looked at Alena curiously.

"What did she mean by 'see you perform'?" he asked in curiosity.

"Well… as you know there aren't a lot of people who know of my existence as a Pokémon Ranger, therefore, my more known cover is a singer. People know and recognize me as Alena Westland, as you'll notice later," Alena explained. "It's amazing how one little change in my name can change my outlook. The only others who knows both my identities at the moment is Gary, considering I dated him before, and my parents and older brother."

He laughed, "You don't really cease to amaze me. So… you wanna join the others for a swim?"

"Not too much," she responded. "You go right ahead if you want to."

He shook his head, nuzzling against her hair. "Not if it means you not coming and joining us."

"Very well," she sighed in defeat as she stood up, "I'll go swimming with you guys, but in my own style as a Pokémon, there's something I want to check out."

"I'm coming with you," he said automatically, a hint of authority in his voice as he removed his styler, gloves, jacket and shirt. It was more than obvious that there was going to be no debate on the issue.

Alena broke into a run and leaped into the air, shifting into a Vaporeon and diving into the water with one smooth splash, Kellyn following after her.

The Vaporeon dived deep to the very bottom of the pool, dark liquid eyes searching for a particular item. Swimming around, other water Pokémon swam with them, until Alena reached a tiny cave that seemed that only she could fit. Looking at her boyfriend, he gave her a single nod before she squiggled in through the hole as he swam back up to the surface for air.

As he broke the water's surface, the others looked at him.

"Hey, where's Alena?" Gary inquired.

"Apparently looking for something down there," he answered, wading over to the rest of them.

"Piplup!" Piplup chirped before popping down into the water.

Dawn looked a little surprised. "Hey! Piplup!" she exclaimed.

"It must be going after Alena," Brock guessed.

Pikachu cocked its head to the side as it floated in the water next to Ash. "Pika?"

Moments later, Piplup popped back up from the water, and Dawn swam over to it. Suddenly, Alena popped back up through the surface and coughed up some water, Kellyn and the others swimming over to her. Dragonair was at her side in an instant.

"You okay?" Kellyn asked her.

She cleared her throat and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. This is what I wanted to get." She held her hand out to the rest of them, showing the beautiful blue glimmering seashell pendant hanging from a gold chain. "While I was still… dead, the past Guardians of Aura came to me and told me to receive this when I returned to the living world."

"It's so beautiful," Dawn commented.

"Hmm… I think I've seen this somewhere before," Gary murmured. "I think I read it in one of grandpa's books or something."

Alena laughed, "I wouldn't be surprised if you _had_ heard of it before. It's called the 'Aqua Crest'. Believe me, it's rare, and not something that I should just leave here. I know that Pokémon Hunters will probably come looking for this. It emits a strong Aura, in which amplifies my own. Even though that Iron Mask Marauder is gone from this place, Hunter J will still be after me, no matter what. Though I may be able to draw her from this place, she won't be too far behind wherever I go next. Even _if_ she doesn't have a client requesting for my capture, she'll catch me for the highest bidder."

Kellyn hugged her against him and she gently pulled away, clipping the chain around her neck, the crest hanging on her neck. Suddenly, her blue aura flared, her eyes closing before she slipped under the water. Almost instantly Kellyn grabbed her arm and pulled her up, Dragonair settling under her before she woke in an instant.

"Okay, I've been passing out too much today," she murmured as Dragonair and Kellyn helped her to shore.

Alena laid herself down almost painfully on the grass, the Aqua Crest flaring beneath her throat with pulsing blue light.

"Alena…" Kellyn murmured as he kneeled beside her.

Gary and the others climbed up from the pool and he kneeled down and placed his hand on her forehead. "Your temperature's normal. Could it be the Aqua Crest?"

"Just wait," she breathed, closing her eyes as the light faded and she sat up, opening her eyes. "There, all better."

"Alena, are you okay?" Kellyn questioned, helping her sit up against him.

She nodded, warily standing up. "O-Okay, I just need to rest now," she sighed, pointing over to a nearby shaded tree. "I'll be over there taking a nap. You guys enjoy yourselves."

"You sure you're okay?" Dawn asked worriedly.

She nodded again before walking off to the tree, laying down on her back, her hands behind her head and she closed her eyes. Even though her clothes and hair was wet, they slowly began to dry with the warm weather and occasional sunlight. As she slept, Dragonair curled itself next to her, laying its head down next to hers as it rested with its partner.

"Dragonair is so protective of her," Ash commented as he looked over at the two partners. _But then again, Kellyn is too,_ he added silently.

Dawn looked at Gary in wonder. She had noticed that at several moments his eyes flashed with jealousy whenever Alena and Kellyn were sharing a romantic moment.

"Hey Gary," she said quietly so it only reached his ears as she swam over to him, "do you still like Alena? As in, have a crush on her still?"

He shrugged honestly. "Don't know. I don't _think_ so, considering I _know _I still feel more like an older brother to her. Maybe it's a overprotective brother feeling or something," he answered. "Anyway, even if I _was_ jealous, there's nothing I can do about it. After all, she looks happy with Kellyn, and he cares a lot about her."

"That's really kind of you, Gary," Brock said. "You really care about Alena's feelings more than your own."

They watched as Kellyn climbed out of the lake, shaking himself dry before slipping on his shirt and jacket before sitting against the tree, watching over Alena with concerned blue eyes. Eventually, as time passed, he dozed off himself while the others were playing and talking.

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One hour later, Kellyn was awoken by Leafeon, who padded up to him and nuzzled against his cheek.

"Mmm… hi Leafeon," he murmured as he yawned, stretching out his arms and legs.

Alena seemed to still be sleeping peacefully, Dragonair curled up next to her, blinking at her in earnest. It raised its head and crooned at Kellyn, looking back down at its partner. Looking up at the sky, the Pokémon nuzzled its nose against Alena's cheek, and she moaned, shuffling away from its cool touch.

Kellyn grinned mischievously as he kneeled down next to her. _This will be fun,_ he thought as he leaned down to touch her lips gently with his.

Alena was awoken by the suddenly warm and tingling sensation, and wrapped her arms around Kellyn's neck, surprising him by tugging him down, in which he proceeded to collapse on her.

"Oof!" she groaned as he chuckled while climbing off her. "Nice to know that's how you plan to wake me," she commented as she sat up.

He shrugged easily, getting to his feet. "Well… Dragonair wasn't having much success in peacefully waking you, so I decided to try a different approach," he defended.

"Very successful," she told him, standing up and leaning her back against the tree.

"Mind if I try something?" Kellyn inquired suddenly, pulling her to the other side of the tree so the others couldn't see.

"Eh… what is it?" she retorted uneasily as he gently wrapped an arm around her waist while the other lingered at her neck as he pinned her to the tree.

Gazing deeply into her azure eyes, seeing his own reflection in those twin orbs, he leaned forward and whispered, "This." Passionately, he kissed her, moving his mouth gently against hers with love as his arms tightened around her, pulling her closer against him while her back continued to press against the tree.

Alena kissed back just as passionately, her arms wrapped around his neck and she could feel how much he loved her, how much he never wanted to let her go. She could taste his fear of losing her, at his sorrow when he did, and at the worry of never seeing her open her eyes again.

"Kellyn," she murmured, pulling her lips away from his. "Something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

He pulled her taut against him as he buried his face in her hair, weeping silently against her. "I nearly lost you…" he murmured, "no… I _did_ lose you…"

"But I came back," she told him, "I came back thanks to you; _because_ of you. You brought me back. If it wasn't for you, I would still be dead."

"I don't want to lose you again," he whispered, "I love you. Don't leave me again."

She smiled. "I know you don't," she replied, "but you know as we're both Top Pokémon Ranger, our missions will vary, and they will take us away from each other."

His arms tightened around her. "No matter what, I'll protect you the best I can," he promised. "I love you with all my heart."

"You can only protect me if you're _with _me, at the time," she said. "And I love you too."

"I'll always be there when you need me," he added gravely, pulling back and gently running his thumb across her cheek as he brushed his lips across hers once more.

She smiled, placing her hand on his cheek. "Now… let's head off to Singling City. I need to call the record agency. It's time to plan a little impromptu festival. I believe tonight is the night of the full moon, _and_… Pokémon Hunter J will probably attack me tonight after hearing the announcements of the festival. Therefore… I need to call in a friend."

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

Ignoring him, she breathed out deeply in earnest. "Well… tonight is going to be quite an eventful night."

* * *

**Wow.... this _was_ a long chapter. Well... this story is almost finished... I think. lol. **

**I'll update the next chapter as soon as I can!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	11. Singling City

**Well... Just to let you all know, the last (and next) two chapters (not including this one) are just fillers, wrap-up, and possible preparation for a sequel I plan on doing... eventually. :D**

**Enjoy! **

**Note: something exciting happens in this one!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Singling City

"Wow, so you're a singer, Alena?! That's so cool!" Dawn exclaimed after the Pokémon Ranger explained to her friends about her cover. Dragonair returned to its Pokéball to rest, and Leafeon brushed itself against her side as they had sat down by the tree to talk.

She smiled. "The record company I work with knows my secret, and are sworn to secrecy, and so they know I can't stay and write music most of the time," she said. "But… I write it when I have time, and _not_ being chased by Pokémon Hunters."

"Piplup!" Piplup chirped.

"So the plan is that we head to Singling City and you're going to organize a special festival concert for the full moon?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, however, the moon will be red," she answered. "In many ways, the Guardians of Aura and the moon are connected, as both have some sort of enchanting spell on people. When one of the guardians is weak to the point of near death, the next time the moon is full, it will run red. You could say that its like a powerful bond between us. So… I guess you could name it as a significant event."

"That's crazy, yet amazing," Gary said. "This will be something I'll have to look into."

Suddenly, her styler beeped, and she looked.

"Alena here," she greeted as the face of a familiar older ranger with blonde hair smiled at her with deep green eyes.

"Hey Alena, its Jackie," Pokémon Ranger Jack Walker returned. "Where are you headed?"

Ash and Brock popped on the sides of the screen.

"Hi Jackie!" they both exclaimed.

"Ash, Brock, what are you guys doing there with Alena?" he responded. "Though its great to see you guys again."

Dawn gasped, "Just _how_ many Pokémon Rangers do you two know?!"

"Other than Kellyn and Alena, just two; Solana and Jackie," Brock answered.

"We met Jackie with May and her younger brother Max," Ash explained to her as she, Gary and Kellyn replaced them on the screen.

"Hi Jackie," Kellyn greeted, "missions going well?"

"Whoa, Kellyn, are you travelling with Alena right now? I heard your mission was to escort a group of Leafeon back home," Jack replied.

The Top Ranger grinned. "Finished and done."

"Jackie, these other two are Gary Oak and Dawn. Gary's a Pokémon Researcher, and Dawn's a Coordinator," Alena introduced, "Gary, Dawn, this is Jack Walker, another Pokémon Ranger Kellyn and I know."

Jackie winked. "Call me Jackie, please."

"Anyway Jackie, we'll be heading to Singling City," Alena responded, "You need something?"

The older ranger sighed, "Backup. I need your help on this mission, you interested? I've talked to Headquarters about this and they're okay with it."

"Depends," she answered. "Where, when, and what? Am I close?"

"Yep," he replied. "You know the ocean right next to Singling Plains by Singling City? Apparently Headquarters found some evidence proving that Team Rocket has some sort of underwater base there. I need your help to infiltrate there and stop them. We've no idea what they're planning, but we need to find out. I'm in Singling City right now."

"Hmm… you know the record company I work with? Meet us there. We'll further this discussion when we get there in about an hour," she said.

He grinned, winking. "Don't get lost."

She smirked back, "I don't know the meaning of the word 'lost'."

"Would you like to borrow my dictionary?" he teased.

"Keep it," she replied, winking once before the communication ended.

Kellyn looked at her. "You want some help on the mission?" he offered.

She shook her head. "The less of us, the better. If things should go awry I need someone I can depend on to help us out if it should come to that. Knowing that Jackie and I work well together, things shouldn't take a turn for the worse."

"We wanna help you guys out too!" Ash exclaimed determinedly.

Gary looked at her. "I agree. Sounds like a lot of fun."

Shaking her head once more, she added, "Even though I may have allowed you guys to accompany Kellyn and I for the mission of escorting the Leafeon home, this mission will be far more dangerous."

"We're ready for it!" Ash pressed, his Pikachu chiming its agreement.

"No…" she stated sternly. "There will be no further argument in this, otherwise I will take my leave right now."

Dawn looked at her. "Alena… if we can't come with you, isn't there _anyway_ we can help?" she inquired.

Alena closed her eyes for a moment before looking back up at them with honest eyes and sighing, "I'm afraid not. I don't want to get you involved with this."

Pikachu climbed up onto her shoulder and squeaked in a sad voice, "Pika?"

Scratching the Pokémon behind the ears kindly, she looked away from them and averted her gaze upwards. "I'm sorry, Pikachu, I just can't let you guys come."

"Alena," Gary murmured, "you're not alone. We're all here to help you."

"I know," she said, "but I can't let you guys come. Now that that's settled, we need to get going soon. I need to speak to Jackie about this new mission."

Leafeon wailed gently as it began to cry. Alena hugged it as she stood up, holding it in her arms.

"Awww… I'm sorry Leafeon, but we have to go," she chided gently. "I'll never forget you."

As she let it down slowly, the Leafeon brushed itself against her. Kneeling down, she touched its nose with one finger.

"You've got to stay here, Leafeon. You're back with your family and friends now," she told it. "You can't come with us."

Leafeon hopped over to brush itself against Kellyn's leg in hopefulness. He kneeled down and pat it on the head.

"I'm sorry, but Alena's right," he said, "you've got to stay here."

Alena placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Unless…" she murmured, kneeling down in front of the Pokémon, "Leafeon, do you want to stay by Kellyn's side and become his partner Pokémon?"

It's dark liquid eyes sparkled as it chirped in agreement.

"R-Really, Leafeon? Do you want to be my partner Pokémon?" Kellyn inquired in amazement, his blue eyes wide.

The Leafeon leaped into his arms and brushed itself against his chest in affection.

Alena handed him an empty Pokéball with a smile. "Well… you know what to do, Kellyn," she said to him.

"Thanks," he replied, tapping the Pokéball against Leafeon's head before it vanished into the Pokéball. Looking at it, he smiled sincerely. "Thanks for deciding to come with me, Leafeon. I'll take good care of you."

Taking out her flute, Alena began to blow a soft, smooth tune and a swirl of leaves floated around her and the Pokémon in the area began to gather around them. When she finished, she kneeled down and told them.

"Guys, we'll be leaving now. Take good care of yourselves, okay? Look out for each other and try not to fight amongst yourselves," she told them before transforming herself into a Ho-oh with magnificent golden wings, lowering herself down as her friends climbed onto her back.

"Goodbye my friends," Alena murmured, raising her golden wings before beating down, lifting off from the ground and taking off to the skies.

"So now we're heading off the Singling City?" Dawn inquired.

_That's right,_ Alena's voice chimed into their minds, _but I have to land right outside the city so that we don't rouse any suspicions, considering once we've entered, you might find yourselves the centers of attention._

"So how long will it take for us to get there?" Ash queried curiously.

_Well… the city is next to the Singling Fields, which is overlooking the ocean, and we're on the opposite side of the mountain. At our current speed, it'll take us about half an hour. If I speed up a bit, it'll only take us half that time,_ she told them mentally.

Gary grinned mischievously. "Then let's see what you got!" he challenged.

_Oh… you're on,_ she retorted hotly before they suddenly sped up quickly as she tucked in her wings and dived down before swooping back up, everyone holding onto her feathers as tightly as they could.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

About 15 minutes later, a large city was in view, the building lights bright even in the light of the sun.

_Okay… hold on,_ Alena thought as she slowly took them down to the ground outside the city, landing on the green grass.

Her friends climbed off her back and she glowed and morphed back into herself, smiling at her friends as she closed her eyes while touching the shell pendant hanging around her neck before her ranger uniform transformed into a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt and collared black velvet jacket.

"Whoa," Dawn gasped. "Is _that_ what that necklace can do?!"

She smiled. "Yep. That and more," she replied, taking out a pair of black sunglasses from her pocket and putting them on. "You guys ready? Ah, wait, people can't know that Kellyn's a ranger too."

Touching the shell pendant once more, she placed a hand on Kellyn's shoulder and his own ranger clothes transformed into a similar outfit like Alena's. He looked down at himself and was wide-eyed at how well the clothes fit him.

"Amazing, isn't it?" she teased.

Gary looked thoughtful. "I _really_ have to read about this Aqua Crest now. It's more intriguing than I thought."

"Now let's get going, I expect that Jackie and the record company will be expecting us," Alena announced as they walked towards and eventually into the city.

As they walked through the streets, people began to gasp as they stared at Alena in shock as she walked passed them with the others.

"Well… what did I tell you?" she teased, "The center of attention. We're just lucky people aren't chasing us yet."

Suddenly, a chestnut-haired little boy wearing a green t-shirt and orange shorts ran up to Alena and tugged on her pant leg as he held a book and a pen. She removed her sunglasses and kneeled down to the little boy as he began to speak.

"You're Alena Westland, right? The singer?" he inquired in a high adorable voice as he stared at her with large dark eyes.

"Yes," she responded, "is there something you want, little boy?"

He held out the book and pen, opening to a blank page. "May I please have your autograph?" he requested.

She chuckled, "Sure. What's your name?"

As she took the book and pen, he replied, "Matthew."

Writing a little note in exquisite handwriting, she signed the book and handed it back to him. "Here you go, Matthew," she said sweetly. "Bye now."

As they walked off with more people staring at them, Dawn noted, "Wow… you're really popular Alena."

"Well… at the moment, so are you guys too," she retorted, staring up at a tall building. "Ah… we're here."

As they entered the building, they saw Pokémon Ranger Jack Walker sitting on a chair waiting for them. He looked up at them as they walked in, standing up.

"Ah! You've arrived!" he exclaimed as Alena ran into his embrace.

"Jackie! It's good to see you again!" she replied cheerfully, hugging him back.

When he let go, she skipped back to her friends as they said their hellos.

"Miss Westland?" the building secretary addressed, "We've been awaiting you. Are you looking to see Mr. Richman at this time?"

She nodded. "Who else is here?" she asked curiously.

"Do you remember singer Alec Jayson?" the secretary replied, "He's here right now talking to Mr. Richman."

"Ohh…" she replied, walking over to the front desk with Kellyn as Jackie talked with the others, "Yeah, I remember Alec. I met him the last time when we recorded a song together. And he took me out to dinner a few times while we were both in the same place."

_Hmm… I'd like to meet this Alec,_ Kellyn thought standoffishly.

"Okay, I'll let them know you're here," the secretary told her, dialling the upstairs office number. "Mr. Richman? Miss Alena Westland is here to see you and Mr. Jayson. Shall I send her in?"

As she hung up, she looked at Alena. "Mr. Richman and Mr. Jayson are ready to see you now. Go on up. Floor 29," she told her.

"Thank you," she retorted, looking at Kellyn and the others, "Come on guys. Floor 29."

Heading over to the fancy elevator, they went up to floor 29, where they were greeted by two men, one old, one young with scruffy chestnut brown hair. The older man wore a grey suit which blended with his equally grey hair, while the younger man had on casual slacks with a white collared button-up shirt and black velvet jacket.

"Hey Alena!" Alec Jayson greeted warmly, hugging the undercover ranger and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, Alec," she replied cheerfully, "It's been so long since we've last seen each other. Hey, you want to do a concert with me tonight?"

"Let's go for it," he agreed, his light green eyes sparkling with excitement. "Now… who are these people with you? Are they friends of yours?"

"Yep!" she exclaimed, skipping back to introduce her friends. "This is Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, Dawn and Piplup, Brock, Gary Oak, Pokémon Ranger Jack Walker, and my boyfriend Kellyn. Guys, this is my very old friend, Alexid P. Jayson. But… everyone knows him as Alec Jayson; 17-year-old pop/rock star that can make a girl's heart beat ten times faster just by winking at them. And this is one of the record company guys I work with, Mr. Richard Richman."

"Really?" Brock gasped.

In a flash, Alec was standing in front of Dawn, one of her hands clasped in between both of his as he flashed a cheeky smile, making her blush and her heart beat furiously.

"See?" Alena pointed out, rolling her eyes and grabbing Alec by the shoulder and pulling him back. "Stop being a flirt, can't you see you're freaking out the poor girl?"

Alec raised a thoughtful eyebrow, glancing at Kellyn. "So _this_ is your boyfriend, huh?" he murmured to her. "Is he a Pokémon Trainer? Looks more like one of those nosey-punks to me. Are you messing with the wrong crowds?"

"Funny," she retorted sarcastically, "but no, he's a Pokémon Ranger; a _Top_ Ranger, to be exact. I forced him to dress like that so it wouldn't be suspicious as to why I would be walking around with a Pokémon Ranger escort. Jackie was already downstairs when I arrived."

Kellyn went over to Alena and wrapped his arm around her waist protectively, pulling her against him. Smirking silently, she could easily figure out that he was a little jealous of how Alec was so close to her. Alena turned in his embrace to see him and reached up to give him a passionate kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as his wound around her waist.

Pulling away, she smiled, whispering in his ear, "Don't be intimidated by him. Alec and I are only friends."

He smiled back at her. "Was I that obvious?" he inquired.

Nodding, she turned back to Alec and Mr. Richman while holding onto Kellyn's arm. "So… Richard, can you organize the event for tonight? Location-wise, I want to have it in Singling Fields. Time; starts at 7:30 PM today. Live broadcast is mandatory, so I don't need to discuss that, and you know the usual band and lighting effects. In addition, I need security tight. You think we can do this all by tonight?"

The grey-eyed boss grinned, his eyes sparkling. "Count on it," he promised, "now… I expect you'll want time with Alec to discuss the song choices for tonight?"

"Of course," she replied, looking at her friends, "and… I something else too… Well… first of all, out of all of you, who's been on the road and travelling the longest without staying somewhere longer than two weeks?"

Immediately their eyes turned to Ash and Pikachu.

"I think that would be them," Gary pointed out. "I stayed in Pallet Town for a while with Alena before we split up."

"I only joined not too long ago," Dawn said, Piplup chiming its agreement.

"I've been in and out of the Pewter City gym," Brock stated, mentally adding, _not to mention the time I stayed with Professor Ivy at her lab. _He shuddered at the thought.

Jackie looked at Alena with a smile. "Leave me outta this. Not to mention I've been undercover at places for more than two weeks. For example, I had to stay on Phantom the Pirate's ship for a month to recover the egg of Manaphy. So count me out."

"So… Ash, where are you from?" Alena fished, "How many regions have you journeyed to?"

"Umm… 6, if you count the Battle Frontier in Kanto," he replied.

She smiled. "So you must have advanced far from when you first started out, right?"

He nodded with a cheeky grin. "Of course!" he exclaimed proudly, "I'm on my way to becoming the world's greatest Pokémon Master!"

"Yeah," Brock smirked, folding his arms over his chest, "Ash is always trying to be a big hero."

"Hero, huh?" she murmured, suddenly grapping a pen and pad on her boss' desk and looking up at Mr. Richman. "Do you mind?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. Go ahead."

Quickly scribbling down something, she grabbed Alec's arm and tugged him towards the elevator. "We're heading to the recording studio down a few floors, he's got to work on this new song," she announced. "Since this song is short, it'll only take us about an hour or two. I think only one should do. In the meantime, you guys explore the city. Jackie, I'll give you a call when to come back to the building for us to take you guys out for dinner before the concert."

"Ack!" Alec choked in surprise as she dragged him by the arm to the elevator as it opened.

As the two artists hurriedly disappeared in the elevator, Mr. Richman shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Once she thinks of some lyrics for some sort of music, she's determined to see the song through," he sighed knowledgably. "She'll be in recording studios for _hours_ if she has to." He handed them each an envelope. "As Alena's guests, take this money and use it to shop for the time being. This was one of her wishes. Afterwards just come back here and Alena and Alec will be awaiting you to take you out for dinner."

"N-No, we really can't accept this!" Gary exclaimed.

Mr. Richman shook his head. "Please, this is a token from Alena. Spend it in any way you want. Now… if you'd please excuse me, I must begin the preparations for tonight," he said, shooing them into the elevator.

Now the gang had a whole bunch of cash, over an hour of shopping time, and a whole city to explore! What are they going to do? Some shopping and exploring, of course!

* * *

**Yay! Kellyn got a partner Pokemon! And the gang is going shopping! YAY! SHOPPING SPREE!!!!! lol**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	12. To Singling Plains!

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

**Things are cooling down, so things wrap up, and the team gets to PART-AY! **

**Or not... considering a certain POKEMON HUNTER J will be crashing the party. Is it in this chapter or the next?**

**FIND OUT!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Twelve: To Singling Plains!

Ash and his friends wandered the streets of Singling City, exploring around through various shops in curiosity.

"Man, it sure was nice of Alena to give us each all this cash to spend on ourselves and our Pokémon," Ash commented.

"We really have to thank her somehow," Dawn said.

Jackie smiled. "She knows," he retorted enigmatically. "She did the same thing for me one time, and I bought her dinner. But since she and Alec are treating us tonight, we should get something else."

Kellyn smiled knowledgably. "I know exactly what I should get her," he announced, looking around for a jewellery store and found one. "Come on," he urged, "I'll be quick."

Looking around the somewhat-expensive jewellery store, the Pokémon Ranger eventually found a beautiful golden heart locket on a gold chain. Inside the locket on one side read the words 'Always believe, and love will bring you back to me'.

"I'll get this one, please," he asked the store clerk, handing him the money and purchasing the locket. The clerk placed it away into a beautiful black velvet long box.

"Awww… that's so sweet," Dawn cooed. "Are you going to get a picture placed inside?"

He nodded, grinning as he stuffed away the black box into his jeans pocket. "I'll get that done later," he replied simply. "I think I'll probably give it to her before she performs."

"Hmm… now that I think about it," Gary murmured to himself, "there _was_ something Alena was always quite fond of while I was still dating her. What was it now?"

"Talking to yourself, Gary?" Ash teased, "Didn't think you were the type."

He rolled his eyes. "Everyone talks to themselves, Ashy-boy. Even you. Don't you tend to talk to yourself during battles to work out your strategies?" he pointed out.

The Pokémon Trainer flushed in embarrassment as Brock teased, "He's right, you know."

"Now… let's not waste our time dilly-dallying and continue shopping before Alena calls," Jackie warned.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, the sun was already half set, and Jackie's cell phone rang.

"Jack Walker," he greeted.

"Hey Jackie, it's me," Alena said cheerfully. "Alec and I are done and everything's organized for tonight. Our outfits are ready and so is the band. Come back to the record studio and we'll take you guys out for dinner. You guys must be starving."

The Pokémon Ranger grinned. "You know it," he said. "We'll see you soon."

Hanging up, he turned to the others. "Let's go. Alena and Alec are ready and done. They're ready for us now, so we just need to head back to the studio," he declared.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ash cheered.

When they arrived in the lobby, both Alena and Alec sat with one leg folded over the other on the lounge chairs. Alec had dressed into a formal black suit, while Alena wore a midnight blue spaghetti strap dress that reached just below her knees, the Aqua Crest hanging around her neck as her long black hair fell in waves around her. The fabric seemed to be made out of the finest pure silk. She had a small black shoulder purse sitting on her lap, the long strap already sitting upon her opposite shoulder. Both of them were chatting and Alena was laughing as they walked in, her azure blue eyes glittering with amusement.

"W-Wow," they breathed.

"You look absolutely amazing!" Dawn exclaimed, Piplup chiming its agreement.

She and Alec stood up, walking over to them. Her purse just hung against her hip so her hands were free for movement. Her short black heels clicked against the tile ground.

"Thank you," she replied with a smile.

Kellyn walked up to her so that he stood less than a centimetre away from her, his face right above hers. His arms wrapped around her waist as hers wound around his neck.

"You look beautiful," he commented quietly, giving her a tender kiss.

"Thanks," she whispered to him with a smile, gazing deeply into his blue eyes. "Did you have fun?"

He grinned. "It would have been _more_ fun if you could come with us," he answered honestly. "But I _did_ have fun, nevertheless."

"Awww… look at the lovebirds," Gary teased.

Alec shook his head, his hands on his waist as he joked, "She's quite the flirt, that one."

"Hey!" she exclaimed defensively, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "Did you all enjoy shopping?"

"Yeah!" they shouted, pumping their fists into the air.

Jackie grinned. "We really have to thank you for the money. These rascals had a joy spending it. Brock bought some more Pokéblock for the Pokémon, Dawn bought this beautiful pink dress, Gary bought some more memory for his equipment, and Ash spent his money on food and delicacies for himself and his Pokémon," he explained. "As for me, I really didn't have much to buy, so I split the money with these guys."

Gary walked over and took a small white bag and handed it to Alena. "Here, this is for you," he told her.

"Awww… you didn't have to spend your money on me," she said.

He grinned. "I know, but I wanted to anyway. I know you always had a fondness for these sort of things, so I thought you'd like this one," he replied coolly as she opened it, taking out a set of hair pins with white wings on them.

"Awww… Gary, this is so cute," she cooed, throwing her arms around the researcher in a big hug. "Thank you so much!"

He hugged her back. "You're welcome."

Slipping the pins back into the bag where she tucked it into her purse, she looked at Kellyn in curiosity. "What did you get yourself, Kellyn?" she inquired.

He looked away, trying not to give any hints away. "I-I'll show you later. Right now, let's go get dinner. After all, the concert is just in a few hours," he retorted, trying to divert the attention away from him.

She shrugged easily, letting the subject go. "If you say so. Then let's go!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

* * *

As they arrived in the fancy restaurant, the waitress handed them several menus, while at the same time, asking for both Alena and Alec's autographs before walking away with their orders. Their Pokémon were having dinner in the special room next over.

"I've already called for a friend to make a special appearance on tonight's performance. They will be making a grand entrance during the concert," Alena announced as she leaned her back heavily against the tall backrest.

Kellyn placed a worried hand on her warm shoulder as he sat next to her. "Are you feeling alright?" he implored.

"I'll be better in the morning," she murmured. "I'm still exhausted from being brought back this morning. But ever since I took that nap and kept the Aqua Crest with me, that's the only thing that's kept me from collapsing at all today."

Leaning over to wrap his arms around her, he whispered into her ear. "I promise you you'll get a good night's sleep tonight. I'll join you, if you want," he offered.

She smiled, leaning against him. "I love you," she murmured, "and I might just take you up on that offer."

"I love you too," he responded, giving her a tender kiss.

"You guys really are quite the lovebirds, aren't you?" Jackie teased. "That's really cute though, the pair of you together."

Alena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's probably what the tabloids are going to say too if they saw us," she stated, swirling around the sparkling apple juice in her wine glass after sipping at it.

"I'm curious," Dawn said, looking over at Alec, "how does Alec feel about this?"

The teen singer shrugged it off. "As long as Alena is happy, I'm happy. If she's safe and Kellyn isn't in the way of her happiness, I'm fine with this," he answered honestly.

"You're so calm about it," Brock commented, "_How_ do you _do_ that? I can't exercise such self-control like that!"

He shrugged again. "Well… I just do, I guess. There's not really any reason behind it," he reasoned. "Plus, I've had my own fair share of love problems. Did you know I actually asked Alena out before once? She thought I was kidding and started laughing at me."

The ranger turned red in embarrassment. "It's not my fault I was so dense at the time that you were being honest!" she defended.

"At least I'm not the only one who tried asking her out before," Gary murmured to himself with a grin.

"I still think you look beautiful in that," Alec teased, leaning across the table to her and stroking her cheek.

Kellyn grinned and made no move to intervene as he knew Alec was trying to mess around with her.

Alena slinked away from his touch and blushed further. Hugging herself against Kellyn, she looked at Alec.

"Sorry Alec, but I'm with Kellyn now," she said. "You know that well enough, right?"

He leaned back against his seat with a chuckle. "I know, and I'm just _almost_ over you, I think. But… nevertheless, Kellyn has to agree that you _do_ look very attractive in that. You know that your fan club will be showing up at the concert too, right? Not to mention the boys that will want pictures with you."

"You too," she retorted.

Kellyn kissed her on the side of her head. "He's right. You _do_ look very attractive, but then again, you look attractive in everything you wear," he agreed.

Alena smiled. "You flatter me," she said teasingly as their food came.

"W-Wow, this smells amazing!" Dawn gasped.

Alec grinned, insisting, "Well… dig in!"

----------------

After they finished dinner, Alena and Alec paid for the food and they all left the restaurant.

"Well… that was amusing," she said. "It's been a while since I've eaten there. Still as great as ever."

Looking over at Alec, she said, "We don't have too long left, do we?"

"About half an hour," he replied, "we should probably get going, considering that they've got the new makeup and dressing trailer out."

"Then let's go, I've got the others' outfits out there too," Alena said, turning back to the others as they headed back towards the recording studio building. "Courtesy of Alec and myself. Hope you'll like them. I chose them all myself."

"That's real sweet of you, Alena," Jackie commented.

She grinned, winking playfully.

"Um… why are we heading back to the building when we're going to the field?" Brock asked curiously.

"We're headed for the roof," Alec answered, somewhat answering his question. "We're travelling to the field in style."

"A helicopter?" Jackie guessed.

"A jet?" Ash chimed.

Both of them shook their heads. Kellyn raised an eyebrow and looked at Alena.

"_You're_ flying us there?" he wondered.

She grinned, "Ding-ding-ding! We have the correct answer! Now that that's settled, let's continue there."

------------

When they arrived on the roof of the building, Alena closed her eyes and her body glowed dimly before she transformed into a large Fearow, bending down to allow them to climb onto her back.

"Now… hold on tight, and don't look down," she commanded, diving down from the building and soaring up into the dark sky.

"Ahhh… Isn't it beautiful up here?" Alena sighed as she flapped her wings twice before smoothly soaring through the sky.

"Wow, just look at how tiny all the people and cars are down there!" Dawn gasped.

"Piplup!" Piplup agreed.

"This is truly a spectacular sight," Alec commented with a grin.

Kellyn pat Alena's feathered neck gently. "Thank you, Alena, for sharing this view with us."

"No problem," she responded, "after all, it's not fair if I'm always the only one seeing the world this way."

"Is this really how you see all the time?" Brock inquired.

"That's so awesome!" Ash exclaimed.

"Ah… we'll be there soon. Can you all see it? Can you see the ocean?" Alena mentioned.

They all looked across the horizon to see the beauty of what was a huge rippling body of water that reflected the light of the stars and moon below a cliff at the edge of the field. Near the edge of the field there was a stage, and lights flashed, spotlights shining here and there, trailers and special cars were already parked.

"It's beautiful!" Dawn exclaimed.

"A real breath-taker," Jackie agreed.

"We're going down," Alena said, and they began to descend back to the ground, her body shifting back into normal before she collapsed onto one knee before warily standing up.

"Ugh…" she murmured, her head throbbing slightly, "okay… I think I probably shouldn't use my shape-shifting ability for the rest of tonight. I suddenly feel exhausted."

Kellyn placed reassuring hands on her shoulders, pulling her against his chest to keep her from falling over."Are you sure you're okay to do this?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes," she answered surely, "after all… I know that Pokémon Hunter J will be trying to capture me tonight, therefore, I already have a plan."

Alec took Alena's hand gently. "Come on, let's go get ready. You can sit down and you know that we can get you anything you need," he told her.

"I know, let's go," she said in agreement, turning to her boyfriend and friends. "I'll get some people to give you guys V.I.P. passes to get backstage before, during and after the show. See you all after the show!"

Without another word, both singers ran off to the dressing room.

Jackie shook his head knowingly. "That girl never changes," he sighed in amusement.

"This'll be an interesting night," Brock said, looking at a pamphlet that he had picked up from the city and had just pulled from his pocket. "Word really travels fast about the concert. It's something that a lot of people are looking forward to."

"I bet they'll both do great!" Ash declared determinedly.

"Pika!" Pikachu cheered in agreement.

Dawn looked curious. "I wonder what their new song sounds like?" she wondered out loud.

"Probably _awesome_," Gary responded meekly with a huge grin on his face as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Well… knowing Alena, anyway."

"I can't wait till the concert starts!" she exclaimed joyfully.

"Well… in the meantime, let's go help the stage crew set up," Jackie said.

"Yeah," Kellyn agreed, "after all, it's the least we could do for Alena and Alec."

-------------

25 minutes later, while Jackie, Gary, Ash, Dawn and Brock went down to take special VIP middle-front row seats, Kellyn went backstage to deliver his gift to Alena.

As Alena and Alec were talking with the sound techs about their microphones, both handheld and the headsets, Kellyn walked over to them. He was astounded at how Alena looked.

The young ranger was dressed in a light blue V-neck frilly shirt, with a pair of slightly glittery black pants that spread out at the end. She wore secure short black boots, her hair tied up into a high messy bun, the loose hairs ironed into bouncy curls. Light blue crystal earrings hung from her earlobes, and the young woman looked more radiant than ever. Her face was powdered lightly, and her lips were painted with rosy red lipstick. The makeup artists were good, because they had made her makeup look completely natural.

Alec's hair was neatly tidied up, wearing a white blouse, the top two buttons left open. He wore black jeans, a chain hanging on his side. He looked pretty handsome, a single silver stud earring in his left earlobe. He looked casual and like a punk at the same time.

"A-Alena," Kellyn greeted with a stammer, astounded by how beautiful his new ranger girlfriend looked. Both Alena and Alec looked at him.

"Oh, hey Kellyn," Alena greeted easily, sliding her arms around his neck as she leaned up to carefully kiss him on the lips.

"Alena," he whispered gently, allowing his finger to tinker with one of her earrings, "you look beautiful. I never knew you wore earrings."

She smiled widely. "I don't. These are special clip-on earrings, as is Alec's," she corrected. "Now… we're about to start soon, so you should get down to the front row with the others." She began to walk away, but he grabbed her wrists, causing her to look back at him in curiosity.

"Wait, Alena, I have something to give you," Kellyn announced quietly, pulling the black velvet box from his pocket and handing it to her. "This is for you."

"Awww… thank you, Kellyn. You didn't have to get anything for me," she responded, accepting the box and opening it to reveal the beautiful golden heart locket. At the sight of it she gasped. "Oh, Kellyn! It's beautiful!" She threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much!"

He hugged her back. "It's no problem," he whispered into her ear. "Open it and see what's inside."

Releasing her rather tight hold on him, she carefully clicked open the locket to reveal a picture of Kellyn and Leafeon on the right side, and the sweet words on the left.

"'Always believe, and love will bring you back to me'," she quoted as she read the engraved words, looking back up into his sparkling blue eyes. "Oh Kellyn, that's so sweet of you. I'll always treasure it. Will you help me put it on?"

"I'm glad you like it," he replied, taking the necklace out of the box as Alena turned around, Kellyn fastening the clasp together around her neck, the pendant in full view against her breastbone. He hugged her from behind after he had finished. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too." She said, turning around to reach up to kiss him deeply once more before pulling away as they heard the applause of the fans and concert attendees.

"That's our 30 second cue," Alec reminded his singing partner. "Let's go."

"Yep," she agreed, looking up at Kellyn, "go back to your seat. I'll see you after the show, 'kay?"

He nodded, kissing her on the forehead. "I know you'll both do great," he bid before they split up, Alec handing Alena her earpiece and microphone as he inserted his own wireless earpiece into his ear.

"You ready?" Alec asked. "It's been a while since we've done this."

She smiled as she looked up at her partner. "Well… that's what makes it all the more special. Don't forget we'll have to do a quick change when we rotate singers," she replied easily. "Now… let's do this!"

* * *

**Well... here's the end of this chapter. **

**About two more chapters and that wraps up this story.**

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	13. Music to My Ears

**Hey, well... here's the next chapter. I wonder what song they managed to create for Ash? lol. Find out in this chapter!**

**Happy almost new year!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
At the Beginning (c) Donna Lewis and Richard Marx  
songs (c) respective owners**

**  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Music to My Ears

Not long after Kellyn returned to his seat with the others, the lights went dark on the stage as soft music began to play.

Suddenly, a single white spotlight shone on Alena, who was standing on the far left side of the stage, her eyes closed, her head tilted downwards as she had her wireless microphone clasped in both of her hands in front of and against her. The applause and cheers grew louder as they saw one of the two main stars beginning the show. Singing the first verse, she slowly took small steps towards center stage.

---

_"We were strangers, starting out on a journey, _

_Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through,_

_Now here we are, and I'm suddenly standing,_

_At the beginning with you."_

_ ---_

From the other side of the stage, another spotlight went on and followed Alec as he slowly began to make his way towards Alena as he continued by singing the next verse.

---

_"No one told me, I was going to find you,_

_Unexpected, what you did to my heart._

_When I lost hope, you were there to remind me,_

_This is the start."_

---

Now both had reached each other, and the lights all over the stage began to rise as they sang the chorus.

---

_"And Life is a road and I wanna keep going,_

_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing,_

_Life is a road, now and forever,_

_A wonderful journey._

_I'll be there when the worlds stops turning,_

_I'll be there when the storm is through,_

_In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning,_

_With you."_

_ ---_

Coloured lights rose to meet the new atmosphere as the music began picking up to a more upbeat tone as both Alec and Alena began to walk towards each other's former positions on the sides of the stage as they shared the third verse.

---

_"We were strangers, on a crazy adventure,_

_Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true._

_Now here we stand, unafraid of the future,_

_At the beginning with you._

_And Life is a road and I want to keep going,_

_Love is a river and I want to keep flowing,_

_Life is a road, now and forever,_

_A wonderful journey._

_I'll be there when the world stops turning,_

_I'll be there when the storm is through,_

_In the end I wanna be standing,_

_At the beginning,_

_With you."_

_ ---_

Both singers met back up in the middle again as Alec gave Alena a fancy twirl, the both of them stepping out further towards the crowd as they sang in unison;

---

_"I knew there was somebody somewhere,_

_Like me alone in the dark,_

_I know that my dream will live on,_

_I've been waiting so long, _

_Nothing's gonna tear us apart._

_And Life is a road and I want to keep going,_

_Love is a river and I want to keep flowing,_

_Life is a road, now and forever,_

_A wonderful journey._

_I'll be there when the world stops turning,_

_I'll be there when the storm is through._

_In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning…._

_With you…."_

_ ---_

Furiously loud applause drowned out Alena and Alec's fading voices, as well as the fading music from the band. Both Alena and Alec bowed deeply, huge smiles on their faces as they radiated cheer and happiness.

Following that, they took turns singing and sang several more duets. By the second-last song of the night, they had already sang "G-Get Up and Dance", "Gift of a Friend", "Destiny", "Just So You Know", and "Love Will Find a Way". They had changed their outfits twice, and now Alena wore a long white spaghetti-strap dress, frills spreading the dress around from her waist down. A silk ribbon robe was wrapped around her waist, her flute stuck in within the bow for her easy access, but still completely hidden from view. Her hair was still tied up, and she still wore the golden locket around her neck. Alec was dressed in casual blue Denim jeans, white sleeveless shirt, and a black collared leather jacket.

"Hello people of the world!" Alec shouted, waving. "Are you enjoying the concert so far?"

Roars and cheers answered him.

"Well…" Alena said, "do you all want to hear a new song we've written?"

Cheers and whistles answered them, and she laughed.

"Well Alec? Shall we tell them a little bit about the new song?" she inquired her singing partner.

He grinned at her. "Of course," he replied, his grin widening. "Well… Alena and I wrote this song together just this afternoon, so unfortunately we don't have a full version of this song. I will be performing this song myself, and this is a song specially written for a special Pokémon trainer and good friend of ours. All the way from Pallet Town in the Kanto Region, give it up for Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum!"

Ash was in shock as the spotlight and camera's turned to him. Forcing smiles and waving uneasily, everyone clapped at how lucky the teen was. As the camera and lights returned to the others, Alena and Alec continued.

"Now, singing 'I Want to be a Hero', here's Alec Jayson!" Alena announced, clapping as she backed up for her friend to take the spotlight.

As the music started, Alec began singing (more like rapping) the song that he and Alena had spent hours working on just that afternoon.

---

_"A kid from Pallet Town,_

_With a brand new world to see,_

_Don't know what's ahead,_

_But it won't get the best of me._

_There's so much to learn_

_And battles to be won,_

_I've advanced so far,_

_And still there's always more to come._

_Take a step and I'm on my way,_

_Gonna start all over again._

_I wanna be a hero (hero),_

_Pokémon advanced,_

_I'm on my way._

_I wanna be a hero (hero),_

_Give it just one chance._

_And the future will decide,_

_If there's a hero very deep inside._

_I wanna be a hero,_

_Pokémon!"_

_ ---_

Everyone cheered, loving the new song. Ash was so touched at how awesome the song dedicated to him sounded. Pikachu cheered in happiness.

"So professional," Jackie sighed in compliment.

"Wow… they are _good_," Kellyn agreed.

Dawn looked at Ash. "You are _so_ lucky!" she said, Piplup chiming its agreement.

Alec walked over to Alena. "Now… I believe Alena will give us the final ending song to end us off tonight on a sweet note," he announced. "Well… Alena? Take it away, gal."

_Didn't Alena say that Pokémon Hunter J would crash the concert at some point?_ Kellyn thought suddenly. _I hope not._

Unfortunately, he didn't know how wrong he was going to be.

* * *

**We're almost done soon! Just two more chapters to go! **

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	14. Concert Crasher and Special Guest

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! TWO MINUTES LEFT!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) not me  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Concert Crasher and Special Guest

Alena smiled, walking over to the microphone stand where she stuck her handheld microphone into but turned off. Then she adjusted the headset on her ear before pulling out the flute from the silk bow behind her back and brought it to her lips. To Ash and Pikachu's ears, the tune sounded familiar. It brought their memories back to the Orange Islands, where they had met the Guardian of the Sea, Lugia, and ran into the three legendary birds Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno.

After the first little bit, all but the drums in the band joined in the music. The music was enchanting to the ears, all until a claw shot out from above and in front of the stage and grabbed Alena tightly by the waist, lifting her from the ground and cutting off her song, causing everyone to scream in fear. Immediately Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, Kellyn, Jackie and Alec called out in horror.

Pokémon Hunter J's huge ship appeared in view, and the hunter herself stood on top of her ship.

"J!" Ash, Dawn and Brock gasped.

"Alena!" Kellyn shouted.

The captive ranger seemed unsurprised, and even more expecting it. Her hands were free, and she still had the flute in her hand. Bringing it to her lips, she continued the melody, the sound somewhat calming down the crowd before suddenly a huge water tornado rose from the ocean behind the concert stage and a cry echoed through the air, answering Alena's call.

Above them all, the moon was beginning to be eclipsed by red, darkening the natural light into a bloody red. All of a sudden from within the typhoon, a huge Lugia burst from it, the now-red moonlight illuminating its stunning figure.

"Lugia?!" J gasped, her hands tightening into fists.

The sudden appearance of the magnificent Pokémon caught the audience in pure awestruck, the camera still rolling and capturing live footage of the Pokémon's arrival, shocking viewers all over the world.

"Lugia!" Ash breathed.

"Amazing!" Brock gasped. _So the legend was true after all!_ He thought.

"Beautiful," Dawn breathed, her eyes widening.

Alena's song continued, even as the claw around her tightened, squeezing the breath out of her lungs. Panting heavily, she couldn't draw a full breath no more, but the Lugia she had befriended on a prior occasion was already aware of the situation that its friend was in.

A blue rush of air appeared in front of Lugia as it flew forward to tackle J's ship, releasing Alena, causing her to freefall towards the stage.

_That was a Dragon Rush attack!_ Brock thought.

"Alena!" Kellyn cried.

Alec took out a Pokéball from the back of his belt and threw it in the air. "Go, Flygon!" he called, the buzzing green dragon popping out from the Pokéball.

Immediately Flygon swept under Alena and caught her on its back, flying back down next to its trainer.

As Alec helped her off his Pokémon, he asked her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine," she replied, "just a little shaken from the fall, that's all."

Ash and the others were gathered around the edge of very tall stage.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Jackie called.

"We're fine!" Alec replied.

Without warning, a huge gust of wind blew through the field from J's ship before a shot of electricity flew towards the two singers, Alec wrapping his arms around Alena as he pulled her against his chest, shielding her from the attack.

"Flygon, use Dragon Breath!" the singer ordered.

Flygon obeyed, sending a bright green light from its mouth and striking the lightning, causing it to explode and fill the arena with smoke. As the audience shielded their face with their arms from the smoke, Alec was hunched protectively over Alena before she pulled away and looked up towards Lugia.

"Lugia!" she cried, "Use Aeroblast!"

"Alena!" Alec called, tackling her to the ground as another shot of lightning struck where she had formally stood.

"Thanks… Alec…" she groaned dizzily, his weight pinning her down as he was crouched over her.

With a powerful Gust, the smoke cleared, and Lugia flapped powerful wings before a orange light began to charge up in its mouth, beams of light focusing into one central area. As the light streamed into a single beam, it was fired directly at J's ship, cutting right through the hunter's fleet and causing the inner works to explode, causing J to sidestep as it began to fall.

Alec kept Alena's head tucked in against his chest as some small debris flew from the ship and into the crowd and towards them.

Urgently, he spoke into his communicator on the collar of his shirt. "Officer Jenny, capture them, if you please. Security, calm down the crowds and such."

Alena's eyes were closed as she laid back in his arms under him.

"Hey, Alena. Alena!" Alec called to her quietly.

When she didn't respond, he guessed that she had smacked her head on the ground when he had tackled her unexpectedly to protect her.

"Oy, Alena!" he snapped.

Very slowly, her eyes fluttered half-open.

"Mmm… Alexid?" she mumbled.

Chuckling, he climbed off her, kneeling and propping her up against his shoulder. "Hey, you alright?" he inquired.

"I will be… in the morning…" she whispered back. "Used up… just a _little_ too much of my power, you know?"

"Alena!" Kellyn shouted worriedly.

"She's alright," Alec reassured. "Just tired, as I think you'd know." Turning back to his singing partner, he inquired, "Can you stand?"

She nodded. "Just help me up, please," she said to him.

Very courteously like a gentlemen, he assisted her onto her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Thanks for your help, Flygon," Alec called, returning his faithful companion to its Pokéball.

Speaking into his headset microphone, he said in a powerful and loud voice, "I'm sorry for the uninvited guest. Miss Westland is alright, but a little shaken. Please give a round of applause for our sudden special guest, Lugia!"

What was murmurs and hushed speaking in the crowd now turned into a booming applaud as they all looked up at the magnificent legendary Pokémon.

Lugia's telepathic voice echoed into Alena's mind. _Are you sure you're alright, Alena?_ It inquired.

_Yes,_ she replied mentally, _I'll be fine. I'd like to thank you for helping me out like you promised earlier. I'll see you again sometime, okay? Please take care of yourself, and I wish you good luck on your journey back to the bottom of the sea. Please be careful not to run into Team Rocket._

The Pokémon dipped its head towards her, answering, _I will. Farewell, Ranger Alena. And I wish you luck on all your missions in the future. Don't hesitate to call me if you need any assistance._

In one powerful sweep of wings, the legendary Pokémon flew out of sight.

"Well… I assume you've all had a pretty heart-pounding evening," Alec announced.

"So therefore, I would be glad to play you all out with another song," Alena cut in, picking up her flute from off the floor and walking back towards centre stage.

As she stood, breathing silently but deep, she felt Alec's arms wound around her waist, forcing her to lean back against him for support. She smiled, bringing the flute up to her lips before blowing a soft sweet tune, the crowd began to disperse. Finally, the only people in the crowd left were Ash and the others, and Alena brought the song to an end, the flute leaving her lips before she collapsed backwards into Alec's arms. The flute dropped from her hand down onto the stage floor.

Hurriedly, Ash and the others climbed onstage and gathered around Alena and Alec as he lowered her down to the ground.

"Alena! Alena!" Kellyn cried out in worry.

"I'm alright!" she hissed. "Just… I need some rest…"

"So was Lugia the unexpected guest you were talking about earlier?" Gary inquired with a confident smirk.

She weakly nodded her head as Kellyn sat her up against his shoulder. Jackie looked worried.

"Alena, are you absolutely _sure_ you can leave tomorrow for the mission?" he asked, his eyes and voice filled with concern. "You know I could always postpone it until a day you recover."

"No, it's alright," she reasoned. "The sooner we get it done, the better." Blinking at them she suddenly noticed something. "Hey, I just noticed, why aren't you guys wearing the outfits I chose out for all of you?" she queried in confusion.

Dawn decided to answer on behalf of all of them. "Well… we didn't want to feel guilty even _more_," she answered honestly.

"Alena, just rest," Kellyn said. "You're exhausted. You don't want Dragonair to worry now, do you?"

Very gently, he picked her up into his arms.

"Well Alec, thanks for everything," Alena sighed in conclusion. "It was great seeing you again."

He smiled, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll send your regards to Mr. Richman and the others, as well as take care of the rest of the stuff here. Take care of yourself, okay?"

She nodded. "You take care too," she replied quietly.

"Thanks Alec," Dawn said. "Thanks for everything."

He shook his head, grinning. "Give me a call if you just happen to be in a town I just so happen to be in as well," he said. "Bye guys, it was great to meet you all."

"You too," they replied before going to pick up Alena's things and leaving.

Now with their rather eventful night concluded, now all that was still needed was to head over to a hotel to get a well night's rest before departures the next morning.

"So I have several hotel rooms booked for you guys," Jackie informed.

"Awesome, thanks Jackie," they all replied simultaneously.

---

After arriving at their hotel, they all stopped in the hall in front of their rooms.

"Okay… so how do you guys want to do this? There's seven of us and only 4 rooms," Jackie announced, holding up 5 door card keys.

"Brock and I can buddy up," Ash suggested, the breeder giving a nod in agreement as Pikachu cheered in happiness.

"Well… Alena and I can share a room," Dawn offered.

Alena shook her head, Kellyn's arm wrapped firmly around her waist. "No, I don't want to wake you when I have to get up early tomorrow morning to prepare for the mission," she replied. "Plus, if you, Ash and Brock head off tomorrow, you'll need all the rest you can get."

Kellyn kissed the Pokémon Ranger on the side of her head. "I'll stay in a room with you," he said. "I don't mind being awoken."

"And I can bunk in with Jackie," Gary said, grinning. "After all, Pokémon Researchers never really sleep. We're too busy with all the organizing and planning."

"Okay, that sounds good," Jackie agreed, handing Kellyn, Ash and Dawn a door key. "Good night, guys. Alena, I'll see you at 0630 here tomorrow."

She nodded. "Sounds good. Night guys."

After they all said their "good nights", they separated into their rooms.

Kellyn flicked on the light and they both saw that there was only one large bed with a huge purple duvet cover on it, as well as two huge white fluffy pillows side-by-side near the wooden headboard. There was a dark wooden night table on each side, a table lamp sitting on each. There was a wide window across from the door with curtains drawn to the sides, revealing the night sky and the bright lights of the city below.

"Well… I guess Jackie must have thought ahead," Alena teased as she saw Kellyn's face go pink with embarrassment. She shook her head and placed her bag on the table, taking out the Aqua Crest and her cell phone, as well as her Vatonage Capture Styler, attaching the styler around her forearm.

She closed her eyes and squeezed the Aqua Crest tightly in her hand, a brief flash of blue light before two neatly-folded set of clothes appeared on the table.

"Here, go take a shower first. I've got to report to Headquarters and get a briefing of tomorrow's mission," she told him, handing him the white t-shirt and black shorts before going to close the curtains. "This is similar to something you wore the other night at the Pokémon Center, right?"

"Uh, yeah, thanks," he replied hesitantly, quickly heading off to the bathroom.

Alena chuckled as she sat down on the bed, flipping open the communicator and calling Headquarters. She was greeted by Operator Carrie.

"Oh my gosh, Alena! You were great!" she exclaimed immediately. "Everyone here at Headquarters was watching and listening to the performance! I can't believe that Pokémon Hunter J would just attack you like that in the middle of your performance! And that Lugia- why, that was just _amazing_!"

"Carrie, Carrie, calm down," Alena chided gently. "Thanks for the compliments, and I'm calling to confirm that I will be joining Pokémon Ranger Jack Walker on his mission to the underwater base of Team Rocket."

Very quickly, Carrie typed on her keyboard, replying at the same time, "Excellent, I expect that you need a briefing of this new mission?"

Alena grinned, teasing, "Please, that would be nice, yes."

"Okay…" she sighed before beginning the briefing, "4 days ago, one of our rangers on the field discovered a Team Rocket underwater base, and so we need to send a ranger undercover to find out what they're doing and take apart their entire operation if possible. Since this may take a few weeks to a maximum of 2 months, it may be safer if another ranger goes with him, considering we're talking about a huge crime organization here. And since you were nearby, Jackie chose you."

She smirked, "As I've realized. So is that all I need to know for the mission?"

"Pretty much," Carrie answered. "Good luck, Alena. Contact us to give us updates when either you or Jackie have the chance to."

"Of course," Alena responded. "Take care Carrie."

As the communication ended, Alena placed her styler on the table, taking the Aqua Crest and placing it on her night table, as well as Dragonair's Pokéball and her flute. She put away the now-empty bag before placing Kellyn's uniform on the table with his styler. Surely he'd need it after Alena and Jackie left for their mission.

Sighing, she sat on the bed waiting for Kellyn before he came out not a few minutes later, placing his clothes and Leafeon's Pokéball on the table.

"Feeling a little more refreshed?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Yep," he agreed as she took her own set of clothes and headed into the bathroom.

-----

10 minutes later, Alena came out, dressed in a white tank top and black Capri pants. Her hair was let down, wavy and curled from the shower and the ironing prior to the concert. It was neatly blow-dried and after Alena turned off the bathroom lights, the only light in the room was the night table lamp on Kellyn's side. Apparently Kellyn had turned off the main room lights.

"Hey," she greeted, looking at Kellyn who was sitting on one side of the bed, just staring at the wall in front of him, lost in his thoughts.

"Ah, hey," he replied softly, directing a kind smile at her. "You must be tired."

Sighing, she walked over to the other side of the bed, crawling in. "Yeah…" she murmured, "it's been a long day for me, as you can imagine. Resurrected, love, accomplishing our mission, a _new_ mission being issued, writing a new song with Alec, the concert, J, Lugia, yeah…"

He reached over to brush her cheek with the back of his fingers. "What do you think was the best part of your day? Even though it's only 10," he inquired after crawling in with her, leaving about a meter of distance between them.

"Well… one _good_ part was seeing the look on Hunter J's face after Lugia appeared," she chuckled gently, causing him to chuckle in return. "But otherwise, the _best_ part… other than being resurrected…" her voice softened to a whisper now as she looked at him, "would probably be being with and loving you."

He pulled himself closer to her, closing the distance between their lips as they kissed, his arms winding around her as hers rested on his chest.

"I love you, Alena," he murmured softly.

"I love you too, Kellyn," she whispered back, closing her eyes as she snuggled up against his chest.

Turning and reaching back, Kellyn turned off the last source of light in the room, before turning back to rest his arm around the young woman he loved.

"Good night, Alena," he said affectionately.

"Good night Kellyn," she replied back quietly, and not before long, the pair fell asleep to each other's calm breaths and gentle heartbeats.

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**ALMOST DONE! PLEASE REVIEW!**

**ONE MINUTE LEFT TILL 2010!!!!**


	15. Hard to Say Goodbye

**YAY! HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Here's the last chapter! My last story done for 2009! Now it's 2010!**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) not me  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Chapter Fifteen: Hard to Say Goodbye

"Mmm…" Alena mumbled as she awoke automatically at 6:26 AM. Kellyn's arm was draped across her waist while the other was next to his head.

Smiling, she transformed into a small Leafeon, sneaking out of bed before transforming back, silently stepping to grab the Aqua Crest, flute, and Pokéball off the night table. Not wanting to wake her boyfriend, instead of bothering to brush her hair at the time she tied it up with hair tie. Then she quietly began to head towards the door.

Hearing a quiet groan, she turned to see Kellyn's blue eyes half-open and staring at her as he half sat up in bed.

"Morning," he greeted, still tired.

"Morning," she replied softly, walking over to give a kiss to his waiting lips.

His blue eyes glittered with sadness. "Are you leaving so soon?" he inquired quietly.

"No," she assured. "Jackie and I just gotta prepare. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Until then, sleep."

He nodded, slipping back under the covers as he closed his eyes once more, drifting back off to sleep. Smiling, she kissed him on the forehead before leaving the room, only to find Jackie already waiting for her, dressed in his ranger uniform.

"Morning Jackie," she greeted.

"Morning," he replied, "sleep well, Alena?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she said, looking him over, "you know you can't wear _that_ on our mission."

The Pokémon Ranger chuckled. "I know," he responded. "It's just for this morning while we go get our appearances changed."

"What is it this time?" she inquired.

"What do you think you'd look like if you had a haircut, got your hair dyed, and wore one of Team Rocket's uniforms?" he hinted.

Alena raised an eyebrow. "That would depend on _how_ short my hair is getting cut and the colour," she said. "Does the same go for you?"

"Nope," he replied easily. "Just the uniform for me. Considering the performance last night, it would easy to recognize you. I'm thinking a nice chestnut brown, just up above your shoulders."

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An hour later, Kellyn was chided awake by a gentle lick on his cheek. Blinking open his eyes, he saw Leafeon licking at his face.

"Eh… Leafeon? How'd you get out of your Pokéball?" he murmured.

Whining gently, it shook its tail and licked his face again, causing him to chuckle and sit up, fully awake now.

"Hmm… Alena isn't back yet," he noticed. "Hmm… must be still out with Jackie getting ready for their mission."

Looking at the clock, he found that it was 7:15. Now he decided that it was time to get up and out of bed.

"Time to get up," he announced, looking down at Leafeon. "Then we need to get you something to eat this morning."

Barking, Leafeon brushed against his leg before the ranger left to get ready and change in the bathroom.

10 minutes later, he came out, dressed in his clean ranger uniform, his Vatonage Capture Styler attached against his wrist, adjusting the collar of his jacket as Leafeon leaped up into his arms. He chuckled, stroking the Leafeon's fur as he made sure not to forget anything in the room. Slipping the card key in his pocket, he walked over to sit on the bed, returning Leafeon to its Pokéball before checking over his styler and adjusting it where he could.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and he opened it, revealing a chestnut-haired girl with bright azure eyes. Her hair was cut down nicely to just above her shoulders, a little wavy and slightly curled at the end. She was dressed in a short blue skirt, a light purple tank top, gold and silver bands on her wrists, the Aqua Crest around her neck, and short white half-inch heels.

"A-Alena?" Kellyn gasped, completely surprised at her sudden appearance. "Is that really you?"

"Hey Kellyn," she greeted, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug.

He hugged her back, his arms wound tightly around her waist. "You look… amazing!" he exclaimed. "Is this your new cover?"

"Yeah," she replied, pulling back and giving him a kiss. "Thanks."

"So, Kellyn, you like the new look for your girl?" Jackie inquired as he walked over in a black sweatshirt under a dark brown leather jacket and black jeans.

"Yeah, she looks absolutely amazing," he answered, wrapping an arm around her waist as he held her against him. "Are the others awake yet?"

Alena looked at them. "They're awake, but haven't come out yet," she explained, looking back specifically at Kellyn. "Kellyn, I'm really going to miss you these next few weeks."

His light blue gaze saddened. "I'm going to miss you too," he said quietly, his voice slightly strained. "Please be careful on your mission."

"Don't worry, Kellyn," Jackie reassured, "I'll take good care of her."

She winked at her friend. "Ditto," she retorted, "and _I'll_ be making sure that _you_ don't get us both into any trouble."

He grinned mischievously. "Of course not."

After a few more minutes of talking, the others began to come out of their rooms, all until the whole gang was dressed and ready to leave.

"Okay… I'm afraid we'll have to say goodbye down at the lobby," Jackie declared. "Alena and I will have to be on our way from there."

Kellyn tightened his grip around Alena's waist, and she instantaneously knew that he didn't want her to leave him so soon.

"It's going to be alright," she reassured. "I'm sorry that I couldn't stay with you longer than we had."

He gave her a sad smile as they headed towards the elevator. "Just please come back as soon as you can?" he whispered pleadingly into her ear.

"I promise," she murmured back.

"We'll see each other again sometime, right?" Brock inquired.

Both Jackie and Alena nodded.

"We'll try to make contact with you guys once we're done our mission," Alena answered.

"So I guess we'll do our best to try and meet up too," Jackie added, "that is, _if_ we don't have any other immediate missions coming up afterwards."

After arriving at the main lobby, while Jackie went to return the card keys, Kellyn turned Alena in his arms and kissed her passionately, pressing his lips tightly against hers as his arms wrapped around her waist as hers twined around his neck.

"I'm going to miss you these upcoming weeks," Kellyn whispered as his forehead pressed against hers.

"I'm going to miss you too," she murmured back. "I'll always be in your heart, Kellyn. We are tied together through our auras, now and forever. I love you Kellyn."

He squeezed her tightly. "I love you too, Alena."

As he relentlessly released her from his arms, Alena went to hug Ash, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu, Piplup, and Gary.

"Be careful, Alena," Gary whispered to her as he hugged her tightly.

"You too," she replied. "I wish you all the luck with your research."

As Jackie rejoined them and they all walked out the hotel, Jackie and Alena said their final goodbyes to their friends before walking away and out of sight.

"So where are you guys heading?" Gary inquired Ash and his friends.

"I don't know, probably head over to the nearest gym or contest," Dawn answered. "How about you, Gary?"

He grinned. "On the road again," he replied easily. "I've still got a lot of research before heading back to a lab to do some lab work. How about you, Kellyn?"

"I'm not quite sure," the ranger admitted. "Probably report back to Headquarters, see if there are any missions I can do nearby here, and then if Alena and Jackie need a hand, play backup."

"So I guess this is goodbye," Ash said, "for now. Until the next time we meet!"

The Top Ranger dipped his head. "Thanks for all of your help and everything," he thanked. "Bye guys."

"Bye Kellyn, and good luck!" Dawn wished.

"Don't worry," Gary assured, placing a hand on Kellyn's shoulder, "Alena will be alright. That girl knows how to take care of herself. And Jackie will be there with her."

He smiled. "I know," he said quietly.

As Ash and the gang left, as well as Gary, Kellyn looked up to the bright blue sky. Now all he could for Alena… was wait.

He smiled as he thought, _I'll be waiting here, Alena… wherever you're going… I'll be waiting for you…_

THE END

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(To be continued in: Pokémon Ranger and the Search for the Missing Ranger)

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**Yay! It's done! The sequel will be coming out... eventually... but I will post the first chapter, or a prologue for it, here! SO PLEASE R&R!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! (AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!)**


	16. Prologue to Sequel

**YAY! Here's the sequel to 'Pokemon Ranger and the Leafeons' Journey Home'! I hope you all like it! Since I'm only posting up the prologue here, you can find the rest of the story (when I post it, that is) on my author page. :D**

**PLEASE R&R!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon (c) Masamitsu Hidaka  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Prologue: A Call for Help

"Kellyn!" Top Pokémon Ranger Alena Westwood called as she set up a connection through her Vatonage Capture Styler, dressed in her Ranger Uniform as she ran through the metal halls.

A month and a half ago, she and her friend fellow Pokémon Ranger Jack "Jackie" Walker had infiltrated the underwater base of Team Rocket. After stopping their operation of developing Pokémon mind control machines, both Alena and Jackie had been caught as being Pokémon Rangers, and decided to reveal themselves and were now on the run.

The brown-haired ranger's face popped up on her Styler screen. "Alena! It's been a while," he greeted. "It's like… 9 in the morning. Ah, I see you're still wearing the locket I gave you. Hmm… I guess the brunette hair dye faded. I quite liked it, actually."

"Kellyn, our cover's been blown," she announced, her black hair tied up into a ponytail, "Jackie and I split up and we're on the run. Big place, you know?" Finding that there were various Pokémon after her, she looked back. "Hold on!" Whipping around, she summoned up an Aura Sphere, launching it at them before it exploded.

Suddenly, a jolt of electricity shot through her and she let out a brief cry before shooting another Aura Sphere behind her, where it hit the responsible Raichu. Then she hurriedly climbed up the ring ladder up to the next level of the underwater base.

"Capture them! That Pokémon Ranger must be caught!" a voice rang behind her.

"Alena, what do you need me to do?" Kellyn inquired, feeling helpless as he watched through the communication screen.

"Ugh…" she moaned, one arm clutching her side in pain from an older attack, "alert Officer Jenny, get out of Singling City, down to the Singlight Harbour, ask for Mark, tell him I sent you, there will be a speedboat. Take it, lock on my Styler's coordinates, and go to the cliff. Jackie and I will be out there as soon as we can."

He nodded, his light blue eyes hard with worry. "Be careful," he warned. "Oh, and by the way, I need to tell you that Pokémon Hunter J wasn't caught that night of the concert. She managed to escape somehow, so please proceed with caution."

She sighed, "Got it." _Great… bad news…_ she thought.

"Be careful, Alena," he told her before the communication ended.

"Ah!" Alena moaned, her face scrunching in pain as blood spilled from the scratch on her side. "We've got to get out of here as soon as possible," she murmured to herself.

Closing her eyes, her hand went to the Aqua Crest necklace around her neck, and a weak bandage of magic silk was instantly tied around the wound. The blue seashell pendant glimmered with a soft blue light for a moment before the glow vanished.

Suddenly, three Ariados crawled in front of her, cutting her off. Three Team Rocket henchman were right behind them.

"Ariados, use String Shot!" one of them exclaimed.

Before Alena could react, the three spider Pokémon wrapped her in tight silk binds, and she collapsed to the floor, unable to use her Styler as her arms were pinned to her sides.

"Electrike, use Thunderbolt!" another Team Rocket goon commanded as he threw his Pokéball, revealing the green and yellow electric Pokémon.

Powerful bolts of electricity shot through Alena's body as she screamed out in pain, fighting against it as she grabbed the Pokéball in her pocket, tossing it weakly.

"Go! Dragonair!" she cried. "Use Dragon Rage!" Then she was momentarily knocked unconscious from the shock.

As the beautiful rare dragon Pokémon appeared from its Pokéball, it shot a powerful blast of red energy from its horn and hit the Electrike, Dragonair's tail whipping the Ariados away before using Hyper Beam and causing an explosion in the side of the base, water beginning to pour into the base, setting off the red alert as the Team Rocket goons ran.

"Code Red! Code Red!" the automated system announced, "We have a breach in Sector 3, level 5, east wall."

Dragonair instantly nosed its partner, who was already half-submerged in the water as it began to fill the area, trying to coax her awake. It whined urgently, using its horn to cut through the silk bonds. Blood from the wound in her side spilled into the sea water and vanished as it was diluted by the water.

"Dragonair," Alena breathed as she awoke from the sharp sting of salty sea water slapping against her wound. Her eyes were wide open, and she tried to stand, Dragonair supporting her the whole time.

Knowing what her Pokémon partner was doing, she climbed onto its back as it made its way through the hallways, protecting her from Team Rocket's Pokémon and henchmen.

"Dragonair," Alena moaned gently, her hand gently patting the smooth scales. The magic bandage had broke, and now blood poured down her side and down Dragonair's blue scales. The loss of blood was tiring her out, as well as the attacks she had to endure.

"Self-destruct in one minute," the automatic announcement declared.

Dragonair turned back and nuzzled her face, whining gently before helping her through the halls. Pulling out her cell phone from her pocket, she dialled Jackie's phone via speed dial.

"Walker," he greeted formally.

"Jackie…" she murmured weakly, "It's me…"

"Alena! Where are you?" he demanded. "This place is coming down. The base's going to self-destruct in less than a minute. I'm already at the hatch."

She looked around. "We're getting there," she said. "Go on and get out of here, Kellyn's waiting with a speedboat on the surface. I'll be out as soon as I can."

"Got it, good luck," Jackie said, "Hurry."

After Alena put away her cell phone, her hand gently ran down Dragonair's scales. "Dragonair, I've got an idea," she said softly, climbing off the Pokémon's back, focusing her energy into a powerful Aura Sphere generating in her hands. "Because we won't make the top hatch in time, so I need you to help me blast a hole in the wall so we can swim out."

Releasing the Aura Sphere, the tiny ball smashed into the wall, only causing a tiny leak. Sighing heavily, she leaned against her friend before Dragonair shot a Hyper Beam at the leak, causing a brief explosion before water poured in.

"Self-destruct in 20 seconds," the announcement declared, but it must have been obvious, considering all the Team Rocket members had evacuated.

With what strength she had left, Alena launched herself onto Dragonair's back and called, "Go!"

In an instant, Dragonair surged forward and pushed against the force of the water before pulling through, hurriedly swimming away from the ticking time bomb of Team Rocket's underwater base, but they had only succeeded in getting about a kilometre away before it exploded.

The whole fleet exploded in huge rolls of red and gold flames and black smoke, the force of the rumble and explosion echoing through the entire ocean. Whether Alena and Dragonair survived the blast was still yet to be determined.

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**Ooh... cliffy. YAY CLIFFIES! Hope you all liked it!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!**


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